AN 


HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION 


CONCERNING 


THE  KNOWLEDGE  WHICH  THE  ANCIENTS  HAD 


OF 


INDIA; 


AND    THE    PROGRESS  OF    TRADE  WITH  THAT  COUNTRY  PRIOR 

TO  THE  DISCOVERY  OF    THE   PASSAGE  TO  IT  BY 

THE  CAPE  OF  GOOD  HOPE. 

WITH  AN  APPENDIX, 

Containing  Observations  on  the  Civil  Policy — the  Laws  aud  Judicial 
Proceedings — the  Arts— the  Sciences — and  Religious 
*     InUkutions  of  the  Indians, 


BY  WILLIAM  ROBERTSON,  D.  D.  F.  R  S.  ED. 

PRINCIPAL    OF     THE     UNIVERSITY,    AND     HISTORIOGRAPHER     TO 
HIS    MAJESTY    FOR    SCOTLAND. 


FIRST  AMERICAN,  FROM  THE  FIFTH  LONDON  EDITION, 


PHILADELPHIA  : 
PUBLISHED  BY  JOHN  BIOREN  &  THO.  L.  PLOWMAK, 

A.  Fagan,  Printer. 

1812. 


• 


PREFACE, 


THE  perusal  of  major  Rennell's  Memoir  for 
illustrating  his  Map  of  Indostan,  one  of  the  most 
valuable  geographical  treatises  that  has  appeared  in 
any  age  or  country  gave  rise  to  the  following  work. 
It  suggested  to  me  the  idea  of  examining  more  fully 
than  I  had  done  in  the  Introductory  Book  to  my 
History  of  America,  into  the  knowledge  which 
the.  ancients  haH  of  India,  and  of  considering  what 
is  certain,  what  is  obscure,  and  what  is  fabulous,  in 
the  accounts  of  that  country  which  they  have  handed 
down  to  us.  In  undertaking  this  inquiry,  I  had 
originally  no  other  object  than  my  own  amusement 
and  instruction :  but  in  carrying  it  on,  and  consult- 
ing with  diligence  the  authors  of  antiquity,  some 
facts,  hitherto  unobserved,  and  many  which  had  not 
been  examined  with  proper  attqntion^  occurred; 


r  *  0,0  .ye, 

V    -VS.- 


iv  PREFACE. 

new  views  opened;  my  ideas  gradually  extended 
and  became  more  interesting;  until,  at  length,  I 
imagined  that  the  result  of  my  researches  might 
prove  amusing  and  instructive  to  others,  by  exhibit- 
ing such  a  view  of  the  various  modes  in  which  inter- 
course with  India  had  been  carried  on  from  the 
earliest  times,  as  might  show  how  much  that  great 
branch  of  commerce  has  contributed  in  every  age, 
to  increase  the  wealth  and  power  of  the  nations 
which  possessed  it. 

Thus  the  Historical  Disquisition  which  I  now  lay 
before  the  reader,  was  begun  and  completed.  What 
degree  of  merit  it  possesses,  the  public  must  deter- 
ariine.  My  grateful  recollection  of  the  favourable 
manner  in  which  my  other  works  have  been  re- 
ceived, naturally  increases  the  solicitude  with  which 
I  wait  for  its  decision  concerning  this  which  I  now 
publish, 

When  I  first  turned  my  thoughts  to  this  subject, 
I  was  so  fully  aware  of  the  disadvantage  under  which 
I  laboured  in  undertaking  to  describe  countries  of 
which  I  had  not  any  local  knowledge,  that  I  have 

been  at  the  utmost  pains  to  guard  againct  any  errors 

tvhich  this  might  occasion.  I  have  consulted,  with 
persevering  industry  the  works  of  all  the  authors  I 
could  procure,  who  have  given  any  account  of  India; 
I  have  never  formed  any  decided  opinion,  which  was 
not  supported  by  respectable  authority;  and  as  I 
have  the  good  fortune  to  reckon  among  the  number 
of  my  friends  some  gentlemen  who  have  filled  im- 
portant stations,  civil  and  military,  in  India,  and  who 


PREFACE.  r 

have  visited  many  parts  of  it,  I  had  recourse  fre- 
quently to  them,  and  from  their  conversation  learned 
things  which  I  could  riot  have  found  in  books. 
Were  it  proper  to  mention  their  names  the  public 
would  allow  that  by  their  discernment  and  abilities 
they  are  fully  entitled  to  the  confidence  which  I  have 
placed  in  them. 

In  the  progress  of  the  work  I  became  sensible  of 
my  own  deficiency  with  respect  to  another  point. 
In  order  to  give  an  accurate  idea  of  the  imperfection 
both  of  the  theory  and  practice  of  navigation  among 
the  ancients,  and  to  explain,  with  scientific  precision, 
the  manner  in  which  they  ascertained  the  position  of 
places,  and  calculated  their  longitude  and  latitude, 
a  greater  portion  of  mathematical  knowledge  was 
requisite,  than  my  attention  to  other  studies  had  per- 
mitted me  to  acquire.  What  I  wanted,  the  friend- 
ship of  my  ingenious  and  respectable  colleague,  Mr. 
Playfair,  professor  of  mathematics,  has  supplied; 
and  I  have  been  enabled  by  him  to  elucidate  all  the 
points  I  have  mentioned,  in  a  manner  which,  I  am 
confident,  will  afford  my  readers  complete  satisfac- 
tion. To  him,  likewise,  I  am  indebted  for  the  con- 
struction of  two  maps  necessary  for  illustrating  this 
Disquisition,  which  without  his  assistance  I  could 
not  have  undertaken. 

I  have  adhered,  in  this  work,  to  an  arrangement  I 
followed  in  my  former  compositions,  and  to  which 
the  public  has  been  long  accustomed.  I  have  kept 
historical  narrative  as  much  separate  as  possible  from 
^scientific  and  critical  discussions,  by  reserving  the 


vi  PREFACE; 

latter  for  notes  and  illustrations.  I  flatter  myself  that 
I  may  claim,  without  presumption,  the  merit  of 
having  examined  with  diligence  what  I  submit  to 
public  inspection,  and  of  having  referred  with  scru- 
pulous accuracy  to  the  authors  from  whom  I  have 
derived  information. 


'COLLEGE  OP  EDINBURGH, 
MAY   10TH,.  I79ij 


CONTENTS. 


SECTION  I. 

Intercourse  with  India,  from  the  earliest  times  until 
the  conquest  of  Egypt  by  the  Romans 


SECTION  II. 

Intercourse  -with  India,  from  the  establishment  of 
the  Roman  dominion  in  Egypt  to  the  conquest  of 
that  kingdom  by  the  Mahometans  -  -  -  46 


SECTION  III. 

Intercourse  with  India,  from  the  conquest  of  Egypt 
by  the  Mahometans,  to  the  discovery  of  the  pas- 
sage by  the  cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  the  establish' 
ment  of  the  Portuguese  dominion  in  the  East  - 


SECTION  IV. 

General  observations  «   163 

Appendix  -195 

Notes  and  Illustrations       -         -  *        *         -  289 


A.N  HiST-OMCAL -DISQUISITION       SECT,  i 

Upon  that  ground  I  will  neither  venture  myself, 
nor  enaeavi.  r  to  conduct  my  readers.  In  my  re- 
searches concerning  the  intercourse  between  the 
Eastern  and  Western  regions  of  the  earth,  and  con- 
cerning the  progress  of  that  great  branch  of  trade, 
which  in  every  age,  has  contributed  so  conspicu- 
ously towards  raising  the  people  who  carried  it  on, 
to  wealth  and  power,  I  shall  confine  myself  within 
the  precincts  I  have  marked  out.  Wherever  the 
inspired  writers,  intent  upon  higher  objects,  men- 
tion occasionally  any  circumstance  that  tends  to 
illustrate  the  subject  of  my  inquiries,  I  shall  attend 
to  it  with  reverence.  Whatever  other  writers  re- 
late, I  shall  examine  with  freedom,  and  endeavour 
to  ascertain  the  degree  of  credit  to  which  they  are 
entitled. 

The  original  station  allotted  to  man  by  his  Cre- 
ator, was  in  the  mild  and  fertile  regions  of  the  East. 
There  the  human  race  began  its  career  of  improve- 
ment ;  and  from  the  remains  of  sciences  which 
were  anciently  cultivated,  as  well  as  of  arts  which 
were  anciently  exercised  in  India,  we  may  conclude 
it  to  be  one  of  the  first  countries  in  which  men 
made  any  considerable  progress  in  that  career. 
The  wisdom  of  the  East  was  early  celebrated,*  and 
its  productions  were  early  in  request  among  distant 
nations.f  The  intercourse,  however,  between  dif- 
ferent countries  was  carried  on  at  first  entirely  by 
land.  As  the  people  of  the  East  appear  soon  to 
have  acquired  complete  dominion  over  the  useful 

*  Kings,  iv.  30.  t  Gen.  xxxviii.  35. 


SECT.  i.       CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.  3 

animals,*  they  could  early  undertake  the  long  and 
toilsome  journies  which  it  was  necessary  to  make, 
in  order  to  maintain  this  intercourse ;  and  by  the 
provident  bounty  of  Heaven,  they  were  furnished 
with  a  beast  of  burden,  without  whose  aid  it  would 
have  been  impossible  to  accomplish  them.  The 
Camel,  by  its  persevering  strength,  by  its  moderation 
in  the  use  of  food,  and  the  singularity  of  its  internal 
structure,  which  enables  it  to  lay  in  a  stock  of  water 
sufficient  for  several  days,  put  it  in  their  power  to 
convey  bulky  commodities  through  those  deserts, 
which  must  be  traversed  by  all  who  travel  from 
any  of  the  countries  west  of  the  Euphrates  towards 
India.  Trade  was  carried  on  in  this  manner,  parti- 
cularly by  the  nations  near  to  the  Arabian  Gulf, 
from  the  earliest  period  to  which  historical  informa- 
tion reaches.  Distant  journies,  however,  would  be 
undertaken  at  first  only  occasionally,  and  by  a  few 
adventurers.  But  by  degrees,  from  attention  to 
their  mutual  safety  and  comfort,  numerous  bodies 
of  merchants  assembled  at  stated  times,  and  form- 
ing a  temporary  association  (known  afterwards  by 
the  name  of  a  Caravan)  governed  by  officers  of 
their  own  choice,  and  subject  to  regulations  of  which 
experience  had  taught  them  the  utility,  they  per- 
formed journies  of  such  extent  and  duration,  as  ap- 
pear astonishing  to  nations  not  accustomed  to  this 
mode  of  carrying  on  commerce, 

But,    notwithstanding   every    improvement  that 
could  be  made  in  the  manner  of  conveying  the  pro- 

*  Gen.  xii.  16.  xxiv.  10,  11. 


4  AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION       SECT.  i. 

ductions  of  one  country  to  another  by  land,  the 
inconveniences  which  attended  it  were  obvious  and 
unavoidable.  It  was  often  dangerous;  always  ex- 
pensive, and  tedious,  and  fatiguing.  A  method  of 
communication  more  easy  and  expeditious  was 
sought,  and  the  ingenuity  of  man  gradually  dis- 
covered, that  the  rivers,  the  arms  of  the  sea,  and 
even  the  ocean  itself,  were  destined  to  open  and  fa- 
cilitate intercourse  with  the  various  regions  of  the 
earth,  between  which  they  appear,  at  first  view,  to 
be  placed  as  insuperable  barriers.  Navigation,  how- 
ever, and  ship-building  (as  I  have  observed  in  ano- 
ther work*)  are  arts  so  nice  and  complicated  that 
they  require  the  talents  as  well  as  experience  of 
many  successive  ages,  to  bring  them  to  any  de- 
gree of  perfection.  From  the  raft  or  canoe,  which 
first  served  to  carry  a  savage  over  the  river  that 
obstructed  him  in  the  chace,  to  the  construction 
of  a  vessel  capable  of  conveying  a  numerous  crew, 
or  a  considerable  cargo  of  goods,  to  a  distant  coast, 
the  progress  of  improvement  is  immense.  Many 
efforts  would  be  made,  many  experiments  would 
be  tried,  and  much  labour  as  well  as  ingenuity 
would  be  employed,  before  this  arduous  and  im- 
portant undertaking  could  be  accomplished. 

Even  after  some  improvement  was  made  in  ship 
building,  the  intercourse  of  nations  with  each  other 
by  sea  was  far  from  being  extensive.     From  the  ac- 

*  Hist  of  America,  vol.  i.  p.  2. 


SECT.  i.       CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.  5 

counts  of  the  earliest  historians,  we  learn,  that  na- 
vigation made  its  first  efforts  in  the  Mediterranean 
and  the  Arabian  Gulf,  and  in  them  the  first  active 
operations  of  commerce  were  carried  on.  From 
an  attentive  inspection  of  the  position  and  form  of 
these  two  great  inland  seas,  these  accounts  appear 
to  be  highly  probable.  These  seas  lay  open  the 
continents  of  Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa,  and  spread- 
ing to  a  great  extent  along  the  coasts  of  the  most 
fertile  and  most  early  civilized  countries  in  each, 
seem  to  have  been  destined  by  nature  to  facilitate 
their  communication  with  one  another.  We  find, 
accordingly,  that  the  first  voyages  of  the  Egyptians 
and  Phenicians,  the  most  ancient  navigators  men- 
tioned in  history,  were  made  in  the  Mediterranean. 
Their  trade,  however,  was  not  long  confined  to 
the  countries  bordering  upon  it.  By  acquiring 
early  possession  of  ports  on  the  Arabian  Gulf, 
they  extended  the  sphere  of  their  commerce,  and 
are  represented  as  the  first  people  of  the  West  who 
opened  a  communication  by  sea  with  India. 

In  that  account  of  the  progress  of  navigation  and 
discovery  which  I  prefixed  to  the  history  of  Ameri- 
ca, I  considered  with  attention  the  maritime  opera- 
tions of  the  Egyptians  and  Phenicians  ;  a  brief  re- 
view of  them  here,  as  far  as  they  relate  to  their 
connection  with  India,  is  all  that  is  requisite  for 
illustrating  the  subject  of  my  present  inquiries. 
With  respect  to  the  former  of  these  people,  the  in- 
formation which  history  affords  is  slender,  and  of 


6  AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION       SECT.  i. 

doubtful  authority.  The  fertile  soil  and  mild  cli- 
mate of  Egypt  produced  the  necessaries  and  com- 
forts of  life  in  such  profusion,  as  to  render  its  inha- 
bitants so  independent  of  other  countries,  that  it 
became  early  an  established  maxim  in  their  policy, 
to  renounce  all  intercourse  with  foreigners.  In  con- 
sequence of  this,  they  held  all  sea-faring  persons  in 
detestation,  as  impious  and  profane  ;  and  fortifying 
their  harbours,  they  denied  strangers  admission  into 
them.* 

The  enterprising  ambition  of  Sesostris,  disdaining 
the  restraints  imposed  upon  it  by  these  contracted 
ideas  of  his  subjects,  prompted  him  to  render  the 
Egyptians  a  commercial  people ;  and  in  the  course 
of  his  reign  he  so  completely  accomplished  this,  that 
(if  we  may  give  credit  to  some  historians)  he  was 
able  to  fit  out  a  fleet  of  four  hundred  ships  in  the 
Arabian  Gulf,  which  conquered  all  the  countries 
stretching  along  the  Erythrean  sea  to  India.  At 
the  same  time,  his  army,  led  by  himself,  marched 
through  Asia,  and  subjected  to  his  dominion  every 
part  of  it  as  far  as  the  banks  of  the  Ganges ;  and 
crossing  that  river,  advanced  to  the  Eastern  Ocean,  f 
But  these  efforts  produced  no  permanent  effect,  and 
appear  to  have  been  so  contrary  to  the  genius  and 
habits  of  the  Egyptians,  that,  on  the  death  of  Se- 
sostris, they  resumed  their  ancient  maxims,  and 

*  Diodor.  Sicul.  lib.  i.  p.  78.  edit.  Wesselingi.  Amst.  174$. 
Strab.  Geog.  lib.  xvii.  p.  1142.  A.  edit.  Casaub.  Amst.  1707. 
t  Diod.  Sic.  lib.  i.  p.  64. 


SECT.    I. 


CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA. 


many  ages  elapsed  before  the  commercial  connec- 
tion of  Egypt  with  India  came  to  be  of  such  im- 
portance as  to  merit  any  notice  in  this  Disquisi- 
tion.* 

The  history  of  the  early  maritime  operations  of 
Phenicia  is  not  involved  in  the  same  obscurity  with 
those  of  Egypt.  Every  circumstance  in  the  charac- 
ter and  situation  of  the  Phenicians  was  favourable 
to  the  commercial  spirit.  The  territory  which  they 
possessed  was  neither  large  nor  fertile.  It  was  from 
commerce  only  that  they  could  derive  either  opu- 
lence or  power.  Accordingly,  the  trade  carried  on 
by  the  Phenicians  of  Sydon  and  Tyre,  was  exten- 
sive and  adventurous ;  and,  both  in  their  manners 
and  policy,  they  resemble  the  great  commercial 
states  of  modern  times,  more  than  any  people  in  the 
ancient  world.  Among  the  various  branches  of 
their  commerce,  that  with  India  may  be  regarded 
as  one  of  the  most  considerable  and  most  lucrative. 
As  by  their  situation  on  the  Mediterranean,  and  the 
imperfect  state  of  navigation,  they  could  not  attempt 
to  open  a  direct  communication  with  India  by  sea ; 
the  enterprizing  spirit  of  commerce  prompted  them 
to  wrest  from  the  Idumseans  some  commodious 
harbours  towards  the  bottom  of  the  Arabian  Gulf. 
From  these  they  held  a  regular  intercourse  with 
India  on  the  one  hand,  and  with  the  Eastern  and 
Southern  coasts  of  Africa  on  the  other.  The  dis- 
tance, however,  from  the  Arabian  Gulf  to  Tyre, 

*  See  NOTE  I.  at  the  end  of  the  volume 


8  AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION       SECT,  i, 

was  considerable,  and  rendered  the  conveyance  of 
goods  to  it  by  land  carriage  so  tedious  and  expen- 
sive, that  it  became  necessary  for  them  to  take  pos- 
session of  Rhinocolura,  the  nearest  port  in  the  Me- 
diterranean to  the  Arabian  Gulf.  Thither  all  the 
commodities  brought  from  India  were  conveyed 
over  land  by  a  route  much  shorter,  and  more  prac- 
ticable, than  that  by  which  the  productions  of  the 
East  were  carried  at  a  subsequent  period  from  the 
opposite  shore  of  the  Arabian  Gulf  to  the  Nile.* 
At  Rhinocolura  they  were  re- shipped,  and  transport- 
ed by  an  easy  navigation  to  Tyre,  and  distributed 
through  the  world.  This,  as  it  is  the  earliest  route 
of  communication  with  India  of  which  we  have 
any  authentic  description,  had  so  many  advantages 
ever  any  ever  known  before  the  modern  discovery 
of  a  new  course  of  navigation  to  the  East,  that  the 
Phenicians  could  supply  other  nations  with  the  pro- 
ductions of  India  in  greater  abundance,  and  at  a 
cheaper  rate,  than  any  people  of  antiquity.  To  this 
circumstance,  which,  for  a  considerable  time,  secur- 
ed to  them  a  monopoly  of  that  trade,  was  owing, 
not  only  the  extraordinary  wealth  of  individuals, 
which  rendered  the  "  merchants  of  Tyre,  princes, 
and  her  trafficers  the  honourable  of  the  earth  ;"f 
but  the  extensive  power  of  the  state  itself,  which 
first  taught  mankind  to  conceive  what  vast  resour- 
ces a  commercial  people  possess,  and  what  great 
exertions  they  are  capable  of  making.  J 

*  Diod.  Sic.  lib.  i.  p.  70.     Strab.  lib.  xvi.  p.  1 128.  A. 
t  Isaiah,  xxiii.  8,  j  S<>e  NOTE  II. 


SECT.  i.       CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.  $ 

The  Jews,  by  their  vicinity  to  Tyre,  had  such  an 
opportunity  of  observing  the  wealth  which  flowed 
into  that  city  from  the  lucrative  commerce  carried 
on  by  the  Phenicians  from  their  settlements  on  the 
Arabian  Gulf,  as  incited  them  to  aim  at  obtaining 
some  share  of  it.  This  they  effected  under  the  pros- 
perous reigns  of  David  and  Solomon,  partly  by  the 
conquests  which  they  made  of  a  small  district  in 
the  land  of  Edom,  that  gave  them  possession  of  the 
harbours  of  Elath  and  Eziongeber  on  the  Red  Sea, 
and  partly  by  the  friendship  of  Hiram,  king  of 
Tyre ;  who  enabled  Solomon  to  fit  out  fleets,  which, 
under  the  direction  of  Phenician  pilots,  sailed  to 
Tarshish  and  Ophir.*  In  what  region  of  the  earth 
we  should  search  for  these  famous  ports  which  fur- 
nished  the  navy  of  Solomon  with  the  various  com- 
modities enumerated  by  the  sacred  historians,  is  an 
inquiry  that  has  long  exercised  the  industry  of 
learned  men.  They  were  early  supposed  to  be 
situated  in  some  part  of  India,  and  the  Jews  were 
held  to  be  one  of  the  nations  wrhich  traded  with  that 
country.  But  the  opinion  more  generally  adopted 
is,  that  Solomon's  fleets,  after  passing  the  straits 
of  Babelmandeb,  held  their  course  along  the  south- 
west coast  of  Africa,  as  far  as  the  kingdom  of  Sofa- 
la,  a  country  celebrated  for  its  rich  mines  of  gold 
and  silver  (from  which  it  has  been  denominated 
the  Golden  Sofala,  by  oriental  writers!)  and  abound- 
rv 

*  1  Kings,  ix.  26.  x.  22. 

t  Notices  cles  MSS.  du  Roi,  torn.  ii.  p.  40 

c 


Id          AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION       SECI.  i 

ing  in  all  the  other  articles  which  composed  the 
cargoes  of  the  Jewish  ships.  This  opinion,  which 
the  accurate  researches  of  M.  D'Anville  rendered 
highly  probable,*  seems  now  to  be  established  with 
the  utmost  certainty  by  a  late  learned  traveller; 
who  by  his  knowledge  of  the  monsoons  in  the  Ara- 
bian Gulf,  and  his  attention  to  the  ancient  mode 
of  navigation,  both  in  that  sea  and  along  the  Afri- 
can coast,  has  not  only  accounted  for  the  extraor 
dinary  length  of  time  \vhich  the  fleets  of  Solomon 
took  in  going  and  returning,  but  has  shown,  from 
circumstances  mentioned  concerning  the  voyage, 
that  it  was  not  made  to  any  place  in  India,  f  The 
Jews,  then,  we  may  conclude,  have  no  title  to  be 
reckoned  among  the  nations  which  carried  on  inter- 
course with  India  by  sea;  and  if,  from  deference 
to  the  sentiments  of  some  respectable  authors,  their 
claim  were  to  be  admitted,  we  know  with  certainty, 
that  the  commercial  effort  which  they  made  HI 
the  reign  of  Solomon  was  merely  a  transient  one, 
and  that  they  quickly  returned  to  their  former  state 
of  unsocial  seclusion  from  the  rest  of  mankind. 

From  collecting  the  scanty  information  which 
history  affords,  concerning  the  most  early  attempts 
to  open  a  commercial  intercourse  with  India,  I  now 
proceed  with  more  certainty  and  greater  confidence, 

*  Dissert,  sur  le  Pays  d'Ophir,  Mem.  cle  Literat.  t.  xxx. 
p.  83,  Sec. 

t  Bruce's  Travels,  book  ii.  ch.  4. 


SECT.  i.       CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA,          11 

to  trace  the  progress  of  communication  with  that 
country,  under  the  guidance  of  authors  who  record- 
ed events  nearer  to  their  own  times,  and  with  re- 
.spect  to  which  they  had  received  more  full  and  ac- 
curate intelligence. 

The  first  establishment  of  any  foreign  power  in 
India,  which  can  be  ascertained  by  evidence  merit- 
ing any  degree  of  credit,  is  that  of  the  Persians ; 
and  even  of  this  we  have  only  a  very  general  an<J 
doubtful  account.  Darius,  the  son  of  Hystaspes, 
though  raised  to  the  throne  of  Persia  by  chance  or 
by  artifice,  possessed  such  active  and  enterprising 
talents,  as  rendered  him  worthy  of  that  high  station. 
He  examined  the  different  provinces  of  his  kingdom 
more  diligently  than  any  of  his  predecessors,  and 
explored  regions  of  Asia  formerly  little  known. * 
Having  subjected  to  his  dominion  many  of  the  coun- 
tries which  stretched  south-east  from  the  Caspian  sea 
towards  the  river  Oxus,  his  curiosity  was  excited 
to  acquire  a  more  extensive  and  accurate  knowledge 
of  India,  on  which  they  bordered.  With  this  view 
he  appointed  Scylax  of  Caryandra  to  take  the  com- 
mand of  a  squadron  fitted  out  at  Caspatyrus,  in 
the  country  of  Pactya  £the  modern  Pehkely]  to. 
wards  the  upper  part  of  the  navigable  course  of  the 
river  Indus,  and  to  fall  down  its  stream  until  he 
should  reach  the  ocean.  This  Scylax  performed 
though  it  should  seem  with  much  difficulty,  and 
jiot  with  standing  many  obstacles;  for  he  spent  no 

*  Herodot;.  lib.  iv.  c,  44. 


12          AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION      SECT.  ^ 

less  than  two  years  and  six  months  in  conducting 
his  squadron  from  the  place  where  he  embarked,  to 
the  Arabian  Gulf.*  The  account  which  he  gave  of 
the  populousness,  fertility,  and  high  cultivation  of 
that  region  of  India  through  which  his  course  lay? 
rendered  Darius  impatient  to  become  master  of  a 
country  so  valuable.  This  he  soon  accomplished  ; 
and  though  his  conquests  in  India  seem  not  to  have 
extended  beyond  the  district  watered  by  the  Indus, 
we  are  led  to  form  an  high  idea  of  its  opulence,  as 
well  as  of  the  number  of  its  inhabitants,  in  ancient 
times,  when  we  learn  that  the  tribute  which  he  levi- 
ed from  it  was  near  a  third  part  of  the  whole  reve- 
nue of  the  Persian  monarchy. f  But  neither  this 
voyage  of  Scylax,  nor  the  conquests  of  Darius,  to 
which  it  gave  rise,  diffused  any  general  knowledge 
of  India.  The  Greeks,  who  were  the  only  enlight- 
ened race  of  men  at  that  time  in  Europe,  paid  but 
little  attention  to  the  transactions  of  the  people  whom 
they  considered  as  Barbarians,  especially  in  coun- 
tries far  remote  from  their  own;  and  Scylax  had 
embellished  the  narrative  of  his  voyage  with  so  ma- 
ny circumstances  manifestly  fabulous,  J  that  he  seem? 
to  have  met  with  the  just  punishment  to  which  persons 
who  have  a  notorious  propensity  to  what  is  marvel- 
lous are  often  subjected,  of  being  listened  to  with 
distrust,  even  when  they  relate  what  is  exactly  true. 

*  Herodot.  lib.  iv.  c.  42.  44. 
t  Id.  lib.  iii.  c.  90—96.     See  NOTE  III. 
|  Philostr.  Vita  Apoll.   lib.  iii.  c.  47.  and  Note  third  oi 
Olearius  Tzetzet.  Chiliad,  vii.  vers.  630. 


SECT.  i.      CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.          13 

About  an  hundred  and  sixty  years  after  the  reign 
of  Darius  Hystaspes,  Alexander  the  Great  under- 
took his  expedition  into  India.  The  wild  sallies  of 
passion,  the  indecent  excesses  of  intemperance,  and 
the  ostentatious  displays  of  vanity  too  frequent  in 
the  conduct  of  this  extraordinary  man,  have  so  de- 
graded his  character,  that  the  pre-eminence  of  his 
merit,  either  as  a  conqueror,  a  politician,  or  a  legis- 
lator, has  seldom  been  justly  estimated.  The  sub- 
ject of  my  present  inquiry  leads  me  to  consider  his 
operations  only  in  one  light,  but  it  will  enable  me 
to  exhibit  a  striking  view  of  the  grandeur  and  ex- 
tent of  his  plans.  He  seems,  soon  after  his  first 
successes  in  Asia,  to  have  formed  the  idea  of  esta- 
blishing an  universal' monarchy,  and  aspired  to  the 
dominion  of  the  sea,  as  well  as  of  the  land.  From 
the  wonderful  efforts  of  the  Tynans  in  their  own  de- 
fence, when  left  without  any  ally  or  protector,  he 
conceived  an  high  opinion  of  the  resources  of  mari- 
time power,  and  of  the  wealth  to  be  derived  from 
commerce,  especially  that  with  India,  which  he 
found  engrossed  by  the  citizens  of  Tyre.  With  a 
view  to  secure  this  commerce  and  to  establish  a 
station  for  it,  preferable  in  many  respects  to  that  of 
Tyre,  as  soon  as  he  completed  the  conquest  of 
Egypt,  he  founded  a  city  near  one  of  the  mouths 
of  the  Nile,  which  he  honoured  with  his  own  name ; 
and  with  such  admirable  discernment  was  the  situa- 
tion of  it  chosen,  that  Alexandria  soon  became  the 
greatest  trading  city  in  the  ancient  world  ;  and,  not- 
withstanding  many  successive  revolutions  in  em- 


U          AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION       SECT,  i, 

pire,  continued  during  eighteen  centuries,  to  be  the 
chief  seat  of  commerce  with  India.*  Amidst  the 
military  operations  to  which  Alexander  was  soon 
obliged  to  turn  his  attention,  the  desire  of  acquiring 
the  lucrative  commerce  which  the  Tyrians  had  carri- 
ed on  with  India,  was  not  relinquished.  Events  soon 
occurred,  that  not  only  confirmed  and  added  strength 
to  this  desire,  but  opened  to  him  a  prospect  of  ob- 
taining the  sovereignty  of  those  regions  which  sup- 
plied the  rest  of  mankind  with  so  many  precious 
commodities. 

After  his  final  victory  over  the  Persians,  he  was 
led  in  pursuit  of  the  last  Darius,  and  of  Bessus,  the 
murderer  of  that  unfortunate  monarch,  to  traverse 
that  part  of  Asia  which  stretches  from  the  Caspian 
sea  beyond  the  river  Oxus.  He  advanced  towards 
the  east  as  far  as  Maracanda,t  then  a  city  of  some 
note,  and  -destined  in  a  future  period,  under  the 
modern  name  of  Samarcand,  to  be  the  capital  of  an 
empire  not  inferior  to  his  own  either  in  extent  or 
in  power.  In  a  progress  of  several  months  through 
provinces  hitherto  unknown  to  the  Greeks,  in  a  line 
of  march  often  approaching  near  to  India,  and 
among  people  accustomed  to  much  intercourse  with 
it,  he  learned  many  things  concerning  the  state  of 
a  country  J  that  had  been  long  the  object  of  his 
Thoughts  and  wishes,  ||  which  increased  his  desire 
of  invading  it.  Decisive  and  prompt  in  all  his  re- 
solutions, he  set  out  from  Bactria,  and  crossed  that 

*  Hist,  of  America,  vol.  i.  p,  20.         t  Arrian,  iii.  c.  30. 
\  Strabo,  xv.  p.  1021.  A.  tl  Arrian,  iv.  c.  16, 


.  i. 


CONCERNING  ANCIENT  IN&IA. 


ridge  of  mountains  which,  under  various  denomi- 
nations, forms  the  Stony  Girdle  (if  I  may  use  aii 
expression  of  the  Oriental  geographers)  which  en- 
circles  Asia,  and  constitutes  the  northern  barrier  of 
India. 

The  most  practicable  avenue  to  every  country,  it 
is  obvious,  must  be  formed  by  circumstances  in  its 
natural  situation,  such  as  the  denies  which  lead 
through  mountains,  the  course  of  rivers,  and  the 
places  where  they  may  be  passed  with  the  greatest 
ease  and  safety.  In  no  place  of  the  earth  is  this  line 
of  approach  marked  and  defined  more  conspicuous* 
ly,  than  on  the  northern  frontier  of  India;  inso- 
much that  the  three  great  invaders  of  this  country, 
Alexander,  Tamerlane,  and  Nadir  Shah,  in  three 
distant  ages,  and  with  views  and  talents  extremely 
different,  advanced  by  the  same  route,  with  very 
little  deviation.  Alexander  had  the  merit  of  having 
first  discovered  the  way.  After  passing  the  moun- 
tains, he  encamped  at  Alexandria  Paropamisana, 
not  far  from  the  mountains  denominated  the  Indian 
Caucasus  by  his  historians,  now  known  by  the  name 
of  Hindoo  Kho  ;  and  having  subdued  or  concili- 
ated the  nations  seated  on  the  north-west  bank  of 
the  Indus,  he  crossed  the  river  at  Taxila,  now  At- 
tock,  where  its  stream  is  so  tranquil  that  a  bridge 
can  be  thrown  over  it  with  greater  ease  than  at  any 
other  place.* 

After  passing  the  Indus,  Alexander  marched  for- 
ward in  the  road  which  leads  directly  to  the  Gan> 

*  Rennell,  Mem.  p.  92.    See  NOTK  IV 


16          AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION       SECT.  i. 

ges,  and  the  opulent  provinces  to  the  south-east, 
now  comprehended  under  the  general  name  of  In- 
dostan.  But,  on  the  banks  of  the  Hydaspes,  known 
in  modern  times  by  the  name  of  the  Betah  or  Che 
lum,*  he  was  opposed  by  Porus,  and  the  hostilities  in 
which  he  was  successively  engaged  with  other  Indian 
princes,  led  him  to  deviate  from  his  original  route, 
and  to  turn  more  towards  the  south-west.  In  car- 
rying on  these  operations,  Alexander  marched 
through  one  of  the  richest  and  best  peopled  coun- 
tries of  India,  now  called  the  Panjab,  from  the 
five*  great  rivers  by  which  it  is  watered  ;  and  as  we 
know  that  this  march  was  performed  in  the  rainy 
season,  when  even  Indian  armies  cannot  keep  the 
field,  it  gives  an  high  idea  both  of  Alexander's  per- 
severing spirit,  and  of  the  extraordinary  vigour  and 
hardiness  of  constitution,  which  soldiers,  in  ancient 
times,  derived  from  the  united  effects  of  gymnastic 
exercise  and  military  discipline.  In  every  step  of 
his  progress,  objects  no  less  striking  than  new  pre- 
sented themselves  to  Alexander.  The  magnitude 
of  the  Indus,  even  after  he  had  seen  the  Nile,  the 
Euphrates,  and  the  Tigris,  must  have  filled  him 
with  surprise,  f  No  country  he  had  hitherto  visit- 
ed, was  so  populous  and  well  cultivated,  or  aboun- 
ded in  so  many  valuable  productions  of  nature  and 
of  art,  as  that  part  of  India  through  which  he  had 

*  In  the  second  edition  of  his  Memoir,  major  Rennell 
gives  the  modern  names  of  the  Hydaspes,  with  some  varia- 
tion in  their  orthography,  Behut  and  Ihylam. 

t  Strabo,  lib.  xv.  p.  1027.     C.  &  note  5.  Casaub, 


SECT.  i.       CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.  17 

led  his  army.  But  when  he  was  informed  in  every 
place,  and  probably  with  exaggerated  description, 
how  much  the  Indus  was  inferior  to  the  Ganges, 
and  how  far  all  that  he  had  hitherto  beheld  was  sur- 
passed in  the  happy  regions  through  which  that 
great  river  flows,  it  is  not  wonderful  that  his  eager- 
ness to  view  and  to  take  possession  of  them  should 
have  prompted  him  to  assemble  his  soldiers,  and 
to  propose  that  they  should  resume  their  march  to- 
wards that  quarter  where  wealth,  dominion,  and 
fame  awaited  them*  But  they  had  already  done  so 
much,  and  suffered  so  greatly,  especially  from  in- 
cessant rains  and  extensive  inundations,  that  their 
patience  as  well  as  strength  were  exhausted,*  and 
with  one  voice  they  refused  to  advance  farther*  In 
this  resolution  they  persisted  with  such  sullen  ob- 
stinacy, that  Alexander,  though  possessed  in  the 
highest  degree  of  every  quality  that  gains  an  ascen- 
dant over  the  minds  of  military  men,  was  obliged 
to  yield,  and  to  issue  orders  for  marching  back  to 
Persia,  f 

The  scene  of  this  memorable  transaction  was  on 
the  banks  of  the  Hyphasis,  the  modern  Beyah, 
which  was  the  utmost  limit  of  Alexander's  progress 
in  India.  From  this  it  is  manifest,  that  he  did  not 
traverse  the  whole  extent  of  the  Panjab.  Its  south- 
west boundary  is  formed  by  a  river  anciently  known 
by  the  name  of  Hysudrus,  and  now  by  that  of  the 
Setlege,  to  which  Alexander  never  approached 
nearer  than  the  southern  bank  df  the  Hyphasis, 

*  See  NOTE  V.  t  Arriaji,  v.  c.  24,  25-. 


18          AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION       SECT.  i. 

where  he  ejected  twelve  stupendous  altars,  which 
he  intended  as  a  monument  of  his  exploits,  and 
which  (if  we  may  believe  the  biographer  of  Appolo- 
nius  Tyanaeus)  were  still  remaining,  with  legible 
inscriptions,  when  that  fantastic  sophist  visited  In- 
dia, three  hundred  and  seventy-three  years  after 
Alexander's  expedition.*  The  breadth  of  the  Pan- 
jab,  from  Ludhana  on  the  Setlege  to  Attock  on  the 
Indus,  is  computed  to  be  two  hundred  and  fifty- 
nine  geographical  miles,  in  a  straight  line ;  and 
Alexander's  march,  computed  in  the  same  manner, 
did  not  extend  above  two  hundred  miles.  But,  both 
as  he  advanced  and  returned,  his  troops  were  so 
spread  over  the  country,  and  often  acted  in  so  many 
separate  divisions,  and  all  his  movements  were  so 
exactly  measured  and  delineated  by  men  of  science, 
whom  he  kept  in  pay  for  the  purpose,  that  he  ac- 
quired a  very  extensive  and  accurate  knowledge  of 
that  part  of  India,  f 

When,  upon  his  return,  he  reached  the  banks  of 
the  Hydaspes,  he  found  that  the  officers  to  whom 
he  had  given  it  in  charge  to  build  and  collect  as 
many  vessels  as  possible,  had  executed  his  orders 
with  such  activity  and  success  that  they  had  as- 
sembled a  numerous  fleet.  As  amidst  the  hurry  of 
war,  and  the  rage  of  conquest,  he  never  lost  sight  of 
his  pacific  and  commercial  schemes,  the  destination 

*  Philostr.  Vita  Appollon.  lib.  ii.  c.  43.  edit,  Olear.  Lip- 
1709. 
t  Plin.  Nat.  Hist.  lib.  vi.  c.  17. 


SECT.  i.       CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.  19 

of  his  fleet  was  to  sail  down  the  Indus  to  the  ocean, 
and  from  its  mouth  to  proceed  to  the  Persian  Gulf, 
that  a  communication  by  sea  might  be  opened  with 
India  and  the  center  of  his  dominions. 

The  conduct  of  this  expedition  was  committed 
to  Nearchus,  an  officer  equal  to  that  important  trust. 
But  as  Alexander  was  ambitious  to  acquire  fame  of 
every  kind,  and  fond  of  engaging  in  new  and  splen- 
did undertakings,  he  himself  accompanied  Near- 
chus in  his  navigation  down  the  river.  The  arma- 
ment was  indeed  so  great  and  magnificent,  as  de- 
served to  be  commanded  by  the  conqueror  of  Asia. 
It  was  composed  of  an  army  of  a  hundred  and 
twenty  thousand  men,  and  two  hundred  elephants, 
and  of  a  fleet  of  near  two  thousand  vessels,  various 
in  burden  and  form  ;*  on  board  of  which  one-third 
of  the  troops  embarked,  while  the  remainder  march- 
ing in  two  divisions,  one  on  the  right,  and  the  other 
on  the  left,  of  the  river,  accompanied  them  in  their 
progress.  As  they  advanced,  the  nations  on  each 
side  were  either  compelled  or  persuaded  to  submit. 
Retarded  by  th£  various  operations  in  which  this 
engaged  him,  as  well  as  by  the  slow  navigation  of 
such  a  fleet  as  he  conducted,  Alexander  was  above 
nine  months  before  he  reached  the  ocean. f 

Alexander's  progress  in  India,  in  this  line  of  di- 
rection, was  far  more  considerable  than  that  which 
he  made  by  the  route  we  formerly  traced;  and 

*  See  NOTE  VI.  t  Strabo,  lib.  xv.  p.  1014. 


20          AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION       SECT.  i. 

when  we  attend  to  the  various  movements  of  his 
troops,  the  number  of  cities  which  they  took,  and 
the  different  states  which  they  subdued,  he  may  be 
said  not  only  to  have  viewed,  but  to  have  explored, 
the  countries  through  which  he  passed.  This  part 
of  India  has  been  so  little  frequented  by  Europeans 
in  later  times,  that  neither  the  position  of  places, 
nor  their  distances,  can  be  ascertained  with  the  same 
accuracy  as  in  the  interior  provinces,  or  even  in 
the  Panjab.  But  from  the  researches  of  major  Ren. 
nell,  carried  on  with  no  less  discernment  than  in- 
dustry, the  distance  of  that  place  on  the  Hydaspes, 
where  Alexander  fitted  out  his  fleet  from  the  ocean, 
cannot  be  less  than  a  thousand  British  miles.  Of 
this  extensive  region  a  considerable  portion,  par- 
ticularly the  upper  Delta,  stretching  from  the  capi- 
tal of  the  ancient  Malli,  now  Moultan,  to  Patala, 
the  modern  Tatta,  is  distinguished  for  its  fertility 
and  population.* 

Soon  after  he  reached  the  ocean,  Alexander  sa- 
tisfied with  having  accomplished  this  arduous  under- 
taking, led  his  army  by  land  back  to  Persia.  The 
command  of  the  fleet  with  a  considerable  body  of 
troops  on  board  of  it,  he  left  to  Nearchus,  who 
after  a  coasting  voyage  of  seven  months,  conducted 
it  safely  up  the  Persian  Gulf  into  the  Euphrates. f 

In  this  manner  did  Alexander  first  open  the  know- 
ledge of  India  to  the  people  of  Europe,  and  an  ex 

*  Rennell  Mem.  68,  &c. 

t  PUn,  Nat  Hist.  Jib.  vi.c.  23.         See  NOTE  VII 


SECT.  i.       CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA,  21 

tensive  district  of  it  was  surveyed  with  greater  ac- 
curacy than  could  have  been  expected  from  the 
short  time  he  remained  in  that  country-  Fortunate- 
ly an  exact  account,  not  only  of  his  military  opera- 
tions, but  of  every  thing  worthy  of  notice  in  the 
countries  where  they  were  carried  on,  was  recorded 
in  the  Memoirs  or  Journals  of  three  of  his  princi- 
pal officers,  Ptolemy,  the  son  of  Lagus,  Aristobu- 
lus,  and  Nearchus.  The  two  former  have  not  in- 
deed reached  our  times,  but  it  is  probable  that  the 
most  important  facts  which  they  contained  are  pre- 
served, as  Arrian  professes  to  have  followed  them 
as  his  guides  in  his  History  of  the  Expedition  of 
Alexander  ;*  a  work  which,  though  composed  long 
after  Greece  had  lost  its  liberty,  and  in  an  age  when 
genius  and  taste  were  on  the  decline,  is  not  unwor- 
thy the  purest  times  of  Attic  literature. 

With  respect  to  the  general  state  of  India,  we 
learn  from  these  writers,  that  in  the  age  of  Alex- 
ander, though  there  was  not  established  in  it  any 
powerful  empire,  resembling  that  which  in  modern 
times  stretched  its  dominion  from  the  Indus  almost 
to  Cape  Comorin,  it  was  even  then  formed  into 
monarchies  of  considerable  extent.  The  king  of 
the  Prasij  was  prepared  on  the  banks  of  the  Ganges 
to  oppose  the  Macedonians,  with  an  army  of  twenty 
thousand  cavalry,  two  hundred  thousand  infantry, 
two  thousand  armed  chariots,  and  a  great  number 
of  elephants. f  The  territory  of  which  Alexander 

*  Arrian,  Ub.  i.  in  procmio.     t  Diod.  Sicul.  lib.  xyii.  p.  232. 


22          AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION       SECT,  i 

constituted  Porus  the  sovereign,  is  said  to  have  con- 
tained seven  distinct  nations,  and  no  fewer  than  two 
thousand  towns.*  Even  in  the  most  restricted  sense 
that  can  be  given  to  the  vague  indefinite  appellations 
of  nations  and  towns,  an  idea  is  conveyed  of  a  very 
great  degree  of  population.  As  the  fleet  sailed 
down  the  river,  the  country  on  each  side  "was  found 
to  be  in  no  respect  inferior  to  that  of  which  the 
government  was  committed  to  Porus. 

It  was  likewise  from  the  Memoirs  of  the  same- 
officers  that  Europe  derived  its  first  authentic  infor- 
mation concerning  the  climate,  the  soil,  the  produc- 
tions, and  the  inhabitants  of  India ;  and  in  a  coun- 
try where  the  manners,  the  customs,  and  even  the 
dress  of  the  people  are  almost  as  permanent  and  in- 
variable as  the  face  of  nature  itself, .  it  is  wonderful 
how  exactly  the  descriptions  given  by  Alexander's 
officers  delineate  what  we  now  behold  in  India,  at 
the  distance  of  two  thousand  years.  The  stated 
change  of  seasons,  now  known  by  the  name  of  mon- 
soons ;  the  periodical  rains ;  the  swelling  of  the 
rivers ;  the  inundations  which  these  occasion  ;  the 
appearance  of  the  country  during  their  continuance, 
are  particularly  mentioned  and  described.  No  less 
accurate  are  the  accounts  which  they  have  given  of 
the  inhabitants,  their  delicate  and  tender  form,  their 
dark  complexion,  their  black  uncurled  hair,  their 
garments  of  cotton,  their  living  entirely  upon  vege- 
table food,  their  division  into  separate  tribes  or 

•*  Arrian,  lib.  vL  c.  2. 


SECT.  i.       CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.  23 

casts,  the  members  of  which  never  intermarry,  the 
custom  of  wives  burning  themselves  with  their  de- 
ceased husbands,  and  many  other  particulars,  in  all 
which  they  perfectly  resemble  the  modern  Hindoos. 
To  enter  into  any  detail  with  respect  to  these  in 
this  place  would  be  premature ;  but  as  the  sub- 
ject, though  curious  and  interesting,  will  lead  un- 
avoidably into  discussions  not  well  suited  to  the 
nature  of  an  historical  work,  I  shall  reserve  my 
ideas  concerning  it  for  an  Appendix,  to  be  annexed 
to  this  Disquisition  ;  and  hope  they  may  contribute 
to  throw  some  additional  light  upon  the  origin  and 
nature  of  the  commerce  with  India. 

Much  as  the  Western  world  was  indebted  for  its 
knowledge  of  India  to  the  expedition  of  Alexander, 
it  was  only  a  small  portion  of  that  vast  continent 
which  he  explored.  His  operations  did  not  extend 
beyond  the  modern  province  of  Lahore,  and  the 
countries  on  the  banks  of  the  Indus  from  Mouiton 
to  the  sea.  These,  however,  were  surveyed  with 
that  degree  of  accuracy  which  I  have  already  de- 
scribed; and  it  is  a  circumstance  not  unworthy  of 
notice,  that  this  district  of  India  which  Europeans 
first  entered,  and  with  which  they  were  best  ac- 
quainted in  ancient  times,  is  now  less  known  than 
almost  any  part  of  that  continent, #  neither  com- 
merce nor  war,  to  which,  in  every  age,  geography 
is  chiefly  indebted  for  its  improvement,  having  led 
any  nation  of  Europe  to  frequent  or  explore  it. 

*  Rennell  Menv  114. 


24}          AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION      SECT.  t. 

If  an  untimely  death  had  not  put  a  period  to  the 
reign  of  the  Macedonian  hero,  India,  we  have  rea- 
son to  think,  would  have  been  more  fully  explored 
by  the  ancients,  and  the  European  dominion  would 
have  been  established  there  two  thousand  years 

•/ 

sooner.  When  Alexander  invaded  India,  he  had 
something  more  in  view  than  a  transient  incursion. 
It  was  his  object  to  annex  that  extensive  and  opulent 
country  to  his  empire;  and  though  the  refractory 
spirit  of  his  army  obliged  him,  at  that  time,  to  sus- 
pend the  prosecution  of  his  plan,  he  Avas  far  from 
relinquishing  it.  To  exhibit  a  general  view  of  the 
measures  which  he  adopted  for  this  purpose,  and 
to  point  out  their  propriety  and  probable  success, 
is  not  foreign  from  the  subject  of  this  Disquisition, 
and  will  convey  a  more  just  idea  than  is  usually 
entertained,  of  the  original  genius  and  extent  of 
political  wisdom  which  distinguished  this  illustri- 
ous man. 

When  Alexander  became  master  of  the  Persian 
empire,  he  early  perceived,  that  with  all  the  power 
of  his  hereditary  dominions,  reinforced  by  the 
troops  which  the  ascendant  he  had  acquired  over 
the  various  states  of  Greece  might  enable  him  to 
raise  there,  he  could  not  hope  to  retain  in  subjec- 
tion territories  so  extensive  and  populous  ;  that  to 
render  his  authority  secure  and  permanent,  it  must; 
be  .established  in  the  affection  of  the  nations  which 
he  had  subdued,  and  maintained  by  their  arms  ; 
and  that  in  order  to  acquire  this  advantage,  all  dis- 
tinctions between  the  victors  and  vanquished  must 


.       CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.          25 

be  abolished,  and  his  European  and  Asiatic  subjects 
must  be  incorporated  and  become  one  people,  by 
obeying  the  same  laws,  and  by  adopting  the  same 
manners,  institutions,  and  discipline. 

Liberal  as  this  plan  of  policy  was,  and  well 
adapted  to  accomplish  what  he  had  in  view,  nothing 
could  be  more  repugnant  to  the  ideas  and  preju- 
dices of  his  countrymen.  The  Greeks  had  such  an 
high  opinion  of  the  pre-eminence  to  which  they 
were  raised  by  civilization  and  science,  that  they 
seem  hardly  to  have  acknowledged  the  rest  of  man- 
kind to  be  of  the  same  species  with  themselves.  To 
every  other  people  the,y  gave  the  degrading  appella- 
tion  of  Barbarians,  and,  in  consequence  of  their  own 
boasted  superiority,  they  asserted  a  right  of  domi- 
nion over  them,  in  the  same  manner  (to  use  their 
own  expression)  as  the  soul  has  over  the  body,  and 
men  have  over  irrational  animals.  Extravagant  as 
this  pretension  may  now  appear,  it  found  admis- 
sion, to  the  disgrace  of  ancient  philosophy,  into  all 
the  schools.  Aristotle,  full  of  this  opinion,  in  sup- 
port of  which  he  employs  arguments  more  subtle 
than  solid,f  advised  Alexander  to  govern  the  Greeks 
like  subjects,  and  the  Barbarians  as  slaves ;  to  con- 
sider the  former  as  companions,  the  latter  as  crea- 
tures of  an  inferior  nature. f  But  the  sentiments  of 
the  pupil  were  more  enlarged  than  those  of  his  mas- 


*  Aristot.  Polit.  i.  c.  3 — 7. 

t  Plut.  de  Fortuna  Alex.  Oral.  i.  p.  302.  vol.  viL  edit. 
'Reiske.     Strabo,  lib.  i.  p.  11 6.  A. 

E 


J$  AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION       «ECT.  i. 

ter,  and  his  experience  in  governing  men  taught  the 
monarch  what  the  speculative  science  of  the  philoso- 
pher did  not  discover.  Soon  after  the  victory  at 
Arbela,  Alexander  himself,  and  by  his  persuasion, 
many  of  his  officers,  assumed  the  Persian  dress,  and 
conformed  to  several  of  their  customs.  At  the 
•same  time  he  encouraged  the  Persian  nobles  to  imi- 
tate the  manners  of  the  Macedonians,  to  learn  the 
Greek  language,  and  to  acquire  a  relish  for  the  beau- 
ties of  the  elegant  writers  in  that  tongue,  which 
were  then  universally  studied  and  admired.  In  or- 
der to  render  the  union  more  complete,  he  resolved 
to  marry  one  of  the  daughters  of  Darius,  and 
chose  wives  for  a  hundred  of  his  principal  officers 
in  the  most  illustrious  Persian  families.  Their  nup- 
tials were  celebrated  with  great  pomp  and  festivity, 
and  with  high  exultation  of  the  conquered  people. 
In  imitation  of  them,  above  ten  thousand  Macedo- 
nians, of  inferior  rank  married  Persian  women, 
to  each  of  whorn  Alexander  gave  nuptial  presents, 
as  a  testimony  of  his  approbation  of  their  con- 
duct.* 

But  assiduously  as  Alexander  laboured  to  unite 
his  European  and  Asiatic  subjects  by  the  most  in- 
dissoluble ties,  he  did  not  trust  entirely  to  the  suc- 
cess of  that  measure  for  the  security  of  his  new  con- 
quests. In  every  province  which  he  subdued,  he 
made  choice  of  proper  stations,  where  he  built  and 


*  Arrian,  lib.  vii.  c.  4.    Plut.  de  Fort     Alexr  p.  304. 
See  NOTE  VII. 


SECT.  f.       CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.         27 

fortified  cities,  in  which  he  placed  garrisons  compos- 
ed partly  of  such  of  the  natives  as  conformed  to  the 
Grecian  manners  and  discipline,  and  partly  of  such 
of  his  European  subjects  as  were  worn  out  with  the 
fatigues  of  service,  and  wished  for  repose  and  a  per- 
manent  establishment.  These  cities  were  numerous, 
and  served  not  only  as  a  chain  of  posts  to  keep 
open  the  communication  between  the  different  pro- 
vinces of  his  dominions,  but  as  places  of  strength 
to  over- awe  and  curb  the  conquered  people.  Thirty 
thousand  of  his  new  subjects,  who  had  been  disci- 
plined in  these  cities,  and  armed  after  the  European 
fashion,  appeared  before  Alexander  \n  Susa,  and 
were  formed  by  him  into  that  compact  solid  body 
of  infantry,  known  by  the  name  of  the  Phalanx, 
which  constituted  the  strength  of  a  Macedonian 
army.  But  in  order  to  secure  entire  authority  over 
this  new  corps,  as  well  as  to  render  it  more  effec- 
tive, he  appointed  that  every  officer  in  it  intrusted 
with  command,  either  superior  or  subaltern,  should 
be  European.  As  the  ingenuity  of  mankind  natu- 
rally has  recourse  in  similar  situations  to  the  same 
expedients,  the  European  powers,  who  now  in 
their  Indian  territories  employ  numerous  bodies  of 
the  natives  in  their  service,  have,  in  forming  the 
establishment  of  these  troops,  adopted  the  same 
maxims ;  and,  probably  without  knowing  it,  have 
modelled  their  battalions  of  Seapoys  upon  the  san*e 
principles  as  Alexander  did  his  phalanx  of  Persians. 
The  farther  Alexander  pushed  his  conquests 
from  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates,  which  may  be 


2ft          AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION      SECT   i, 

considered  as  the  center  of  his  dominions,  he.  found 
it  necessary  to  build  and  to  fortify  a  greater  num- 
ber of  cities.  Several  of  these  to  the  East  and  South 
of  the  Caspian  sea,  are  mentioned  by  ancient  au- 
thors ;  and  in  India  itself,  he  founded  two  cities  on 
the  banks  of  the    Hydaspes,   and  a  third  on  the 
Acesines,  both  navigable  rivers,  which,  after  uniting 
their  streams,  fall  into  the  Indus.*  From  the  choice 
of  such  situations,  it  is  obvious  that  he  intended, 
by  means  of  these  cities,  to  keep  open  a  communi- 
cation with  India,    not  only  by  land,  but  by  sea. 
It  was  chiefly  with  a  view  to  the  latter  of  these  ob- 
jects (as  I  have  already  observed)  that  he  examined 
the  navigation  of  the  Indus  with  so  much  attention. 
With  the  same  view,  on  his  return  to  Susa,  he,  in 
person,  surveyed  the  course  of  the  Euphrates  and 
Tigris,   and  gave   directions    to  remove  the  cata- 
racts or  dams,  with  which  the  ancient  monarchs  of 
Persia,  induced  by  a  peculiar  precept  of  their  reli- 
gion, which  enjoined  them  to  guard  with  the  ut- 
most care  against  defiling  any  of  the  elements,  had 
constructed  near  the  mouths  of  these  rivers,  in  or- 
der to  shut  out  their  subjects  from  any  access  to  the 
acean.f     By  opening  the  navigation  in  this  manner, 
he  proposed,  that  the  valuable  commodities  of  India 
should  be  conveyed  from  the  Persian  Gulf  into  the 
interior  parts  of  his  Asiatic  dominions,  while  by  the 
Arabian  Gulf  they  should  be  carried  to  Alexan- 
dria, and  distributed  to  the  rest  of  the  world. 

*  See  NOTE  IX. 

t  Arrian,  lib.  vi.  c.  7.     Strabo,  lib.  xvi.  p.  1074,  8cc.    See 
NOTE  X- 


SECT.  i.       CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.          29 

Grand  and  extensive  as  these  schemes  were,  the 
precautions  employed,  and  the  arrangements  made 
for  carrying  them  into  execution,  were  so  various 
and  so  proper,  that  Alexander  had  good  reason  to 
entertain  sanguine  hopes  of  their  proving  success- 
ful.    At  the  time  when  the  mutinous  spirit  of  his 
soldiers  obliged  him  to  relinquish  his  operations  in 
India,  he  was  not  thirty  years  of  age  complete.    At 
this  enterprising  period  of  life,  a  prince,  of  a  spirit 
so  active,  persevering,  and  indefatigable,  must  have 
soon  found  means  to  resume  a  favourite  measure  on 
which  he  had  been  long  intent.     If  he  had  invaded 
India  a  second  time,   he  would  not,    as  formerly, 
have  been  obliged  to  force  his  way  through  hostile 
and  unexplored  regions,  opposed  at  every  step  by 
nations   and    tribes    of  Barbarians    whose    names 
had  never  reached   Greece.     All   Asia,    from    the 
shores  of  the  Ionian  sea  to  the  banks  of  the   Hy- 
phasis,  would  then  have  been  subject  to  his  domi- 
nion ;  and  through  that  immense  stretch  of  coun- 
try he  had  established  such  a  chain  of  cities,  or  for- 
tified stations,*  that  his  armies  might  have  conti- 
nued their  march  with  safety,  and  have  found  a  re- 
gular  succession   of  magazines  provided  for  their 
subsistence.     Nor  would  it  have  been  difficult  for 
him  to  bring  into  the  field,  forces  sufficient  to  have 
achieved  the    conquest  of  a  country  so  populous 
and  extensive  as  India.     Having  armed  and  disci- 
plined  his  subjects  in  the  East  like  Europeans,  they 
would  have  been  ambitious  to  imitate,  and  to  equal 

*  See  NOTE  XI.  - 


£0         AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION       SECT,  t . 

their  instructers,  and  Alexander  might  have  drawn 
recruits,  not  from  his  scanty  domains  in  Macedonia 
and  Greece,  but  from  the  vast  regions  of  Asia, 
which,  in  every  age,  has  covered  the  earth,  and  asto- 
nished mankind  with  its  numerous  armies.  When 
at  the  head  of  such  a  formidable  power  he  had 
reached  the  confines  of  India,  he  might  have  enter- 
ed it  under  circumstances  very  different  from  those 
in  his  first  expedition.  He  had  secured  a  firm  foot- 
ing there,  partly  by  means  of  the  garrisons  that  he 
left  in  the  three  cities  which  he  had  built  and  forti- 
fied, and  partly  by  his  alliance  with  Taxiles  and 
Porus.  These  two  Indian  princes,  won  by  Alex- 
ander's humanity  and  beneficence,  which,  as  they 
were  virtues  seldom  displayed  in  the  ancient  mode 
of  carrying  on  war,  excited  of  course  an  higher  de- 
gree of  admiration  and  gratitude,  had  continued 
steady  in  their  attachment  to  the  Macedonians.  Re- 
inforced by  their  troops,  and  guided  by  their  in- 
formation  as  well  as  by  the  experience  which  he  had 
acquired  in  his  former  campaigns,  Alexander  must 
have  made  rapid  progress  in  a  country,  where  every 
invader,  from  his  time  to  the  present  age,  has  prov- 
ed successful. 

But  this  and  all  his  other  splendid  schemes  were 
terminated  at  once  by  his  untimely  death.  In  con- 
sequence of  that,  however,  events  took  place,  which 
illustrate  and  confirm  the  justness  of  the  preceding 
speculations  and  conjectures  by  evidence  the  most 
striking  and  satisfactory.  When  that  great  empire, 
which  the  superior  genius  of  Alexander  had  kept 


SECT.  i.        CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.          Si 

united  and  in  subjection,  no  longer  felt  his  super- 
intending controul,  it  broke  into  pieces,  and  its 
various  provinces  were  seized  by  his  principal  offi- 
cers, and  parcelled  out  among  them.  From  ambi- 
tion, emulation,  and  personal  animosity,  they  soon 
turned  their  arms  against  one  another ;  and  as  seve- 
ral of  the  leaders  were  equally  eminent  for  political 
abilities  and  for  military  skill,  the  contest  was  main- 
tained long,  and  carried  on  with  frequent  vicissi- 
tudes of  fortune.  Amidst  the  various  convulsions 
and  revolutions  which  these  occasioned,  it  was 
found  that  the  measures  of  Alexander  for  the  pre- 
servation of  his  conquests  had  been  concerted  with 
such  sagacity,  that,  upon  the  final  restoration  of 
tranquillity,  the  Macedonian  dominion  continued  to 
be  established  in  every  part  of  Asia,  and  not  one 
province  had  shaken  off  the  yoke.  Even  India,  the 
most  remote  of  Alexander's  conquests,  quietly  sub- 
mitted to  Pytho  the  son  of  Agenor,  and  afterwards 
to  Seleucus,  who  successively  obtained  dominion 
over  that  part  of  Asia.  Porus  and  Tax  lies,  not- 
withstanding the  death  of  their  benefactor,  neither 
declined  submission  to  the  authority  of  the  Mace- 
donians,  nor  made  any  attempt  to  recover  inde- 
pendence. 

During  the  contests  for  powrer  and  superiority 
among  the  successors  of  Alexander,  Seleucus  who 
in  every  effort  of  enterprising  ambition,  was  inferior 
to  none  of  them,  having  rendered  himself  master  of 
all  the  provinces  of  the  Persian  empire  compre- 
hended  under  the  name  of  Upper  Asia,  considered 


32          AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION       SECT.  i. 

those  countries  of  India  which  had  been  subdued 
by  Alexander,  as  belonging  to  that  portion  of  the 
Macedonian  empire  of  which  he  was  now  the  sove- 
reign. Seleucus,  like  all  the  officers  formed  under 
Alexander,  entertained  such  high  ideas  of  the  ad- 
vantages which  might  be  derived  from  a  commer- 
cial intercourse  with  India,  as  induced  him  to  march 
into  that  country?  partly  with  a  view  of  establishing 
his  own  authority  there,  and  partly  in  order  to  curb 
Sandracottus,  who  having  lately  acquired  the  sove- 
reignty of  the  Prasij,  a  powerful  nation  on  the  banks 
of  the  Ganges,  threatened  to  attack  the  Macedo- 
nians, whose  Indian  territories  bordered  on  his  do- 
minions. Unfortunately  no  account  of  this  expe- 
dition, wiiich  seems  to  have  been  splendid  and  suc- 
cessful, has  reached  our  times.  All  we  know  of 
it  is,  that  he  advanced  considerably  beyond  the  ut- 
most boundary  of  Alexander's  progress  in  India,* 
and  would  probably  have  proceeded  much  farther, 
if  he  had  not  been  constrained  to  stop  short  in  his 
career,  in  order  to  oppose  Antigonus,  who  was  pre- 
paring to  invade  his  dominions  at  the  head  of  a  for- 
midable army.  Before  he  began  his  march  towards 
the  Euphrates,  he  concluded  a  treaty  with  Sandra- 
eottus ;  in  consequence  of  which,  that  monarch 
quietly  retained  the  kingdom  he  had  acquired.  But 
the  powers  and  possessions  of  the  Macedonians  seem 
to  have  remained  unimpaired  during  the  reign  of 
Seleucus,  which  terminated  forty-two  years  after  the 
death  of  Alexander. 

*  See  NOTE  Ifc 


SECT.  i.       CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.  33 

With  a  view  of  cultivating  a  friendly  intercourse 
with  Sandracottus,  Seuleucus  made  choice  of  Me- 
gasthcnes,  an  officer,  who,  from  his  having  accom- 
panied Alexander  in  his  expedition  into  India,  had 
some  knowledge  of  the  state  of  the  country,  and  the 
manners  of  its  inhabitants,  and  sent  him  as  his  arcu 
bassador  to  Palibothra.*  In  this  famous  capital  of 
the  Prasij,  situated  on  the  banks  of  the  Ganges, 
Megasthenes  resided  several  years,  and  was  probably 
the  first  European  who  ever  beheld  that  mighty 
river,  far  superior  to  any  of  the  ancient  continent  in 
magnitude, f  and  no  less  distinguished  by  the  fer- 
tility of  the  countries  through  which  it  flows.  This 
journey  of  Megasthenes  to  Palibothra  made  Eu- 
ropeans acquainted  with  a  large  extent  of  country, 
of  which  they  had  not  hitherto  any  knowledge  ;  for- 
Alexander  did  not  advance  farther  towards  the  south- 
cast  than  that  part  of  the  river  Hydraotesor  Rauvec. 
where  the  modem  city  of  Lahore  is  situated,  and 
Palibothra,  the  site  of  which,  as  it  is  a  capital  posi- 
tion in  the  geography  of  Ancient  India,  I, .have  in- 
vestigated with  the  utmost  attention,  appears  to  me 
the  same  with  that  of  the  modern  city  of  Allahabad, 
at  the  confluence  of  the  two  great  rivers,  Jumna 
and  Ganges.J  As  the  road  from  Lahore  to  Allaha- 
bad runs  through  some  of  the  most  cultivated  and 
opulent  provinces  of  India,  the  more  the  country 
explored,  the  idea  of  its  value  rose  higher. 

*  Strabo,lib.  ii.  p.  121,  &c.     Arrian,  Hist.  Ind.  passim 
•7  See  NOTE  XIII.  J  Sec  NOTE  XIV. 

c 


•U  AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION       SECT.  i. 

Accordingly,  what  Megasthenes  observed  during 
his  progress  to  Palibothra  and  his  residence  there, 
made  such  an  impression  upon  his  own  mind,  as 
induced  him  to  publish  an  ample  account  of  India 
in  order  to  make  his  countrymen  more  thoroughly 
acquainted  with  its  importance.  From  his  writings 
the  ancients  seem  to  have  derived  almost  all  their 
knowledge  of  the  interior  state  of  India,  and  from 
comparing  the  three  most  ample  accounts  of  it,  by 
Diodorus  Siculus,  Strabo,  and  Arrian,  they  appear 
manifestly,  from  their  near  resemblance,  to  be  a 
transcript  of  his  words.  But,  unfortunately,  Me- 
gasthenes was  so  fond  of  the  marvellous,  that  he 
mingled  with  the  truths  which  he  related,  many 
extravagant  fictions  ;  and  to  him  may  be  traced  up 
the  fabulous  tales  of  men:  with  ears  so  large  that 
they  could  wrap  themselves  up  in  them,  of  others 
with  a  single  eye,  without  mouths,  without  noses, 
with  long  feet,  and  toes  turned  backwards,  of  people 
only  three  spans  in  height,  of  wild  men  with  heads 
in  the  shape  of  a  wedge,  of  ants  as  large  as  foxes 
that  dug  up  gold,  and  many  other  things  no  less 
wonderful.*  The  extracts  from  his  narrative  which 
have  been  transmitted  to  us  by  Strabo,  Arrian,  and 
other  writers,  seem  not  to  be  entitled  to  credit, 
unless  when  they  are  supported  by  internal  evidence, 
and  confirmed  by  the  testimony  of  other  ancient 
authors,  or  when  they  coincide  with  the  experience 
of  modern  times.  His  account,  however,  of  the 
dimensions  and  geography  of  India,  is  curious  and 

*  Strabo,  lib.  xx.  1082.     A.  1037.  C. 


SECT.  z.      CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.  3.5 

accurate.  His  description  of  the  power  and  opu- 
lence of  the  Prasij  perfectly  resembles  that  which 
might  have  been  given  of  some  of  the  greater  states 
in  the  modern  Indostan,  before  the  establishment 
of  the  Mahomedan  or  European  power  in  India, 
and  is  consonant  to  the  accounts  which  Alexander 
had  received  concerning  that  people.  He  was  in- 
formed, as  has  been  already  mentioned,  that  they 
were  prepared  to  oppose  him  on  the  banks  of  the 
Ganges,  with  an  army  consisting  of  twenty  thou- 
sand cavalry,  two  hundred  thousand  infantry,  and 
two  thousand  armed  chariots;*  and  Megasthenes 
relates,  that  he  had  ah  audience  of  Sandracottus  in  a 
place  where  he  wTas  encamped  with  an  army  of  four 
hundred  thousand  men.f  The  enormous  dimen- 
sions which  he  assigns  to  Palibothra,  of  no  less  than 
ten  miles  in  length,  and  two  in  breadth,  and  sur- 
rounded by  walls  in  which  there  were  five  hun- 
dred and  seventy  towers,  and  sixty-four  gates, 
would  probably  have  been  ranked  by  Europeans 
among  the  wonders  which  he  delighted  to  relate, 
if  they  were  not  now  well  acquainted  with  the  ram- 
bling manner  in  which  the  cities  of  India  were 
built,  and  did  not  know  with  certainty  that,  both 
in  former  and  in  the  present  times,  it  might  boast 
of  cities  still  more  extensive.J 

This  embassy   of  Megasthenes  to  Sandracottus, 
and  another  of  Daimachus  to  his  son  and  succes- 

*  Diod.  Sicul.  lib.  xvii.  p.  232.     Q.  Curt.  lib.  ix.  c.  2. 
f  Strabo,  lib.  xv.  p.  1035.  C.        %  Rennell  Mem.  49,  50. 


j36          AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION       SECT.  i. 

for  Allitrochidas,  are  the  last  transactions  of  the 
Syrian  monarchs  with  India,  of  which  we  have  any 
account.*  Nor  can  we  either  fix  with  accuracy  the 
time,  or  describe  the  manner  in  which  their  posses- 
sions in  India  were  wrested  from  them.  It  is  pro- 
bable that  they  were  obliged  to  abandon  that  country 
soon  after  the  death  of  Seleucus.  f 

But  though  the  great  monarchs  of  Syria  lost, 
about  this  period,  those  provinces  in  India,  which 
had  been  subject  to  their  dominion,  the  Greeks  in  a 
smaller  kingdom,  composed  of  some  fragments  of 
Alexander's  empire,  still  maintained  an  intercourse 
with  India,  and  even  made  some  considerable  ac- 
quisition of  territory  there.  This  wras  the  king- 
dom of  Bactria,  originally  subject  to  Seleucus,  but 
wrested  from  his  son  or  grandson,  and  rendered  an 
independent  state  about  sixty-nine  years  after  the 
death  of  Alexander.  Concerning  the  transactions 
of  this  kingdom,  we  must  rest  satisfied  with  glean- 
ing a  few  imperfect  hints  in  ancient  authors.  From 
them  we  learn  that  its  commerce  with  India  was 
great ;  and  the  conquests  of  the  Bactrian  kings 
in  that  country,  were  more  extensive  than  those  of 
Alexander  himself,  and  particularly  that  they  re- 
covered possession  of  the  district  near  the  mouth  of 
the  Indus,  which  he  had  subdued.J  Each  of  the 
six  princes  who  reigned  in  Bactria,  carried  on  mili* 

*  See  NOTE  XV.  f  Justin,  lib.  xv.  c.  4. 

4  Strabo,  lib.   xi.  785.  D.  lib.  xv.   1006.  13.     Justin.  lib- 
xli,  c.  4.     Bayer  Hist.  Regni  Grsecor.  Bactriani,  passim. 


SECT.  i.       CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.          37 

tary  operations  in  India  with  such  success,  that  they 
penetrated  far  into  the  interior  part  of  the  country, 
and  proud  of  the  conquests  which  they  had  made,  as 
well  as  of  the  extensive  dominions  over  which  they 
reigned,  some  of  them  assumed  the  lofty  title  of 
Great  King,  which  distinguished  the  Persian  mo- 
narchs  in  the  days  of  their  highest  splendour.  But 
we  should  not  have  known  how  long  this  kingdom 
of  Bactria  subsisted,  or  in  what  manner  it  termi- 
nated, if  M.  de  Guignes  had  not  called  in  the  histo- 
rians of  China  to  supply  the  defects  of  the  Greek 
and  Roman  writers.  By  them  we  are  informed,  that 
about  one  hundred  and  twenty-six  years  before  the 
Christian  era,  a  powerful  horde  of  Tartars,  pushed 
from  their  native  seats  on  the  confines  of  China,  and 
obliged  to  move  towards  the  west  by  the  pressure  of 
a  more  numerous  body  that  rolled  on  behind  them, 
passed  the  Jaxartes,  and  pouring  in  upon  Bactria, 
like  an  irresistible  torrent,  overwhelmed  that  king- 
dom, and  put  an  end  to  the  dominion  of  the 
Greeks*  there,  after  it  had  been  established  near 
one  hundred  and  thirty  years.f 

•From  this  time  until  the  close  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  when  the  Portuguese,  by  doubling  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope,  opened  a  new  communication 
with  the  East,  and  carried  their  victorious  arms 
into  every  part  of  India,  no  European  power  ac- 
quired territory,  or.  established  its  dominion  there. 


*  Mem.  dc  Literal,  torn.  xxv.  p.  17,  &.«. 
t  See  NOTE  XVI 


38          AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION       SECT,  i- 

During  this  long  period,  of  more  than  sixteen  hun- 
dred years,  all  schemes  of  conquest  in  India  seem 
to  have  been  totally  relinquished,  and  nothing  more 
was  aimed  at  by  any  nation,  than  to  secure  an  in- 
tercourse of  trade  with  that  opulent  country. 

It  was  in  Egypt  that  the  seat  of  this  intercourse 
was  established ;  and  it  is  not  without  surprise  that 
we  observe  how  spon  and  how  regularly  the  com- 
merce with  the  East  came  to  be  carried  on  by  that 
channel,  in  which  the  sagacity  of  Alexander  des- 
tined it  to  flow.     Ptolemy,  the   son  of  Lagus,  as 
soon  as  he  took  possession  of  Egypt,  established  the 
seat  of  government  in  Alexandria.     By  some  exer- 
tions of  authority,  and  many  acts  of  liberality,  but 
chiefly  by  the  fame  of  his  mild  and  equal  adminis- 
tration, he  drew  such   a  number  of  inhabitants  to 
this  favourite  residence,  that  it  soon  became  a  popu- 
lous and  wealthy  city.     As  Ptolemy  deserved  and 
had  possessed  the  confidence  of  Alexander  more  per- 
fectly than  any  of  his  officers,  he  knew  well  that  his 
chief  object  in  founding  Alexandria  was  to  secure 
the  advantages  arising  from  the  trade  with  India. 
A  long  and  prosperous  reign  was  favourable  to  the 
prosecution  of  that  object,  and  though  ancient  au- 
thors have  not  enabled  us  to  trace  the  steps  which 
the  first  Ptolemy  took  for  this  purpose,  we  have  a 
striking  evidence  of  his  extraordinary  attention  to 
naval  affairs,  in  his  erecting  a  light-house  on  the  island 
of  Pharos,  at  the  mouth  of  the  harbour  of  Alexan- 
dria,* a  work  of  such  magnificence  as  to  be  reck- 

*  Strabo,  lib.  xvii.  p.  1140.  C. 


.  i.        CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.          3a 

oned  one  of  the  seven  wonders  of  the  world. 
With  respect  to  the  commercial  arrangements  of 
his  son  Ptolemy  Philadelphia,  we  have  more  per- 
fect information.  In  order  to  bring  the  trade  with 
India  (which  began  to  revive  at  Tyre,  its  ancient 
station*)  to  center  in  Alexandria,  he  set  about 
forming  a  canal,  an  hundred  cubits  in  breadth,  and 
thirty  cubits  in  depth,  between  Arsinoe  on  the 
Red  Sea,  not  far  from  the  situation  of  the  modern 
Suez,  and  the  Peleusiac  or  eastern  branch  of  the 
Nile,  by  means  of  which  the  productions  of  India 
might  have  been  conveyed  to  that  capital  wholly  by 
water.  But  either  on  account  of  some  danger  ap- 
prehended from  completing  it,  that  work  was  never 
finished ;  or  from  the  slow  and  dangerous  naviga- 
tion towards  the  northern  extremity  of  the  Red 
Sea,  this  canal  was  found  to  be  of  so  little  use,  that 
in  order  to  facilitate  the  communication  with  In- 
dia, he  built  a  city  on  the  west  coast  of  that  sea, 
almost  under  the  Tropic,  to  which  he  gave  the 
name  of  Berenice.  *  This  new  city  soon  became  the 
staple  of  the  trade  with  India. f  From  Berenice  the 
goods  were  transported  by  land  to  Coptos,  a  city 
three  miles  distant  from  the  Nile,  but  which  had  a 
communication  with  that  river  by  a  navigable  ca- 
nal, of  which  there  are  still  some  remains, f  and 
thence  carried  down  the  stream  to  Alexandria, 

*Strabo,  lib.  xvi.   1089.  A.     Strabo,  lib.  xvii.   1156.  D, 
Plin.  Nat.  Hist.  lib.  vi.  c.  29. 
f  See  NOTE  XVII. 
\  D'Anville  Mejn.  de  1'Egypte,  p.  21-. 


40          AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION       SECT.  i. 

The  distance  between  Berenice  and  Coptos  was, 
according  to  Pliny,  two  hundred  and  fifty -eight 
Roman  miles,  and  the  road  lay  through  the  desert 
of  Thebais,  almost  entirely  destitute  of  water.  But 
the  attention  of  a  powerful  monarch  made  provision 
for  supplying  this  want,  by  searching  for  springs, 
and  wherever  these  were  found  he  built  inns,  or 
more  probably  in  the  eastern  style  caravan seras,  for 
the  accommodation  of  merchants.  In  this  channel 
the  intercourse  between  the  East  and  West  conti- 
nued to  be  carried  on  during  two  hundred  and  fifty 
years,  as  long  as  Egypt  remained  an  independent 
kingdom. 

The  ships  destined  for  India  took  their  depar- 
ture from  Berenice,  and  sailing,  according  to  the 
ancient  mode  of  navigation,  along  the  Arabian  shore, 
to  the  promontory  Syagrus,  now  Cape  Rasalgate) 
held  their  course  along  the  coast  of  Persia,  either 
directly  to  Pattala  (now  Tatta)  at  the  head  of  the 
lower  Delta  of  the  Indus,  or  to  some  other  empo- 
rium on  the  west  coast  of  India.  To  this  part  of 
India  which  Alexander  had  visited  and  subdued, 
the  commerce  under  the  protection  of  the  Egyp- 
tian monarchs  seems  to  have  been  confined  for  a. 
considerable  time.  Afterwards  a  more  convenient 
course  was  followed,  and  from  Cape  Rasalgate 
vessels  sailed  in  a  direct  course  to  Zizerus.  This, 
according  to  M.  de  Montesquieu,*  was  the  king-. 


*  Strabo,  lib.  xvii.  p.  1157.     D.  1169. 
'  T, 'Esprit  dcs  Loix,  lib.  xxi.  r.  7. 


*ECT.  i.       CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.          44 

dom  of  Sigertis,  on  the  sea- coast  adjacent  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Indus,  conquered  by  the  Greek  mo- 
narchs  of  Bactria ;  according  to  major  Rennell,* 
it  was  a  port  on  the  northern  part  of  the  Malabar 
coast.  Ancient  authors  have  not  conveyed  such  in- 
formation as  will  enable  us  to  pronounce  with 
certainty,  which  of  these  two  opposite  opinions  is 
best  founded.  Nor  can  we  point  out  with  accuracy, 
what  were  the  other  ports  in  India  which  the  mer- 
chants from  Berenice  frequented,  when  that  trade 
was  first  opened.  As  the}*  sailed  in  vessels  of  small 
burden,  which  crept  timidly  along  the  coast,  it  is 
probable  that  their  voyages  were  circumscribed 
within  very  narrow  limits,  and  that  under  the  Ptole- 
mies, no  considerable  progress  was  made  in  the 
discovery  of  India,  f 

From  this  monopoly  of  the  commerce  by  sea 
between  the  east  and  west,  which  Egypt  long  en- 
joyed, it  derived  that  extraordinary  degree  of  opu- 
lence and  power  for  which  it  was  conspicuous. 
In  modern  times,  acquainted  with  the  vigilant  and 
enterprising  activity  of  commercial  rivalship,  there 
Is  hardly  any  circumstance  in  ancient  story  which 
appears  more  surprising,  than  that  the  sovereigns 
of  Egypt  should  have  been  permitted  to  engross 
this  lucrative  trade  without  competition,  or  any 
attempt  to  wrest  it  out  of  their  hands ;  especially 
as  the  powerful  monarchs  of  Syria  might,  from 
the  Persian  Gulf,  have  carried  on  an  intercourse 

*  Introduct.  p.  xxxvii.  t  See  NOTE  XVIII- 


42  AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION       SECT,  i. 

with  the  same  parts  of  India,  by  a  shorter  and  safer 
course  of  navigation.    Different  considerations  seem 
to  have  induced  them  so  tamely  to  relinquish  all 
the  obvious  advantages  of  this  commerce.     The 
kings  of  Egypt,  by  their  attention  to  maritime  affairs, 
had  formed  a  powerful  fleet,  which  gave  them  such 
decided  command  of  the  sea,  that  they  could  have 
crushed  with  ease  any  rival  in   trade.     No  com- 
mercial intercourse  seems  ever  to  have  been  carried 
on  by  sea  between  Persia  and  India.     The  Persians 
had  such  an  insuperable  aversion  to  that  element,, 
or  were  so  much  afraid  of  foreign  invasion,  that 
their  monarchs   (as  I  have   already  observed)  ob- 
structed the  navigation  of  the  great  rivers,  which 
gave  access  to  the  interior  parts  of  the   country, 
by  artificial  works.     As  their   subjects,   however, 
were  no  less  desirous  than  the  people  around  them 
to   possess  the   valuable   productions   and   elegant 
manufactures  of  India,  these  were  conveyed  to  all 
the  parts  of  their  extensive  dominions  by  land-car- 
riage.    The  commodities  destined  for  the  supply 
of  the   northern   provinces,    were   transported   on 
camels  from  the  banks  of  the  Indus  to  those  of  the 
Oxus,  down  the  stream  of  which  they  were  carried 
to  the  Caspian  sea,  and  distributed  partly  by  land- 
carriage,   and  partly  by  navigable  rivers,-  through 
the  different  countries,  bounded  on  one   hand  by 
the  Caspian,  and  on  the  other  by  the  Euxine  sea.* 
The  commodities  of  India  intended  for  the  south- 

*  Strabo,  lib.  xii.  776,  D.     Plin,  Nat.  Hist.  lib.  vi.  c.  I* 


SRCT.  i.       CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.  43 

ern  and  interior  provinces,  proceeded  by  land  from 
the  Caspian  gates  to  some  of  the  great  rivers, 
by  which  they  were  circulated  through  every  part 
of  the  country.  This  was  the  ancient  mode  of 
intercourse  with  India,  while  the  Persian  empire 
was  governed  by  its  native  princes;  and  it  has 
been  observed  in  every  age,  that  when  any  branch 
of  commerce  has  got  into  a  certain  channel,  aL 
though  it  may  be  neither  the  most  proper  nor . 
the  most  commodious  one,  it  requires  long  time 
and  considerable  efforts,  to  give  it  a  different 
direction,* 

To  all  these  reasons  for  suffering  the  monarchs 
of  Egypt  to  continue  in  the  undisturbed  posses- 
sion of  the  trade  with  India  by  sea,  another  may 
be  adoled.  Many  of  the  ancients,  by  an  error  in 
geography  extremely  unaccountable,  and  in  which 
they  persisted,  notwithstanding  repeated  opportu 
nities  of  obtaining  more  accurate  information,  be- 
Jieved  the  Caspian  sea  to  be  a  branch  of  the  great 
Northern  Ocean,  and  the  kings  of  Syria  might 
hope  by  that  means  to  open  a  communication  with 
Europe,  and  to  circulate  through  it  the  valuable 
productions  of  the  east,  without  intruding  into 
those  seas,  the  navigation  of  which  the  Egyptian 
rnonarchs  seemed  to  consider  as  their  exclusive 
right.  This  idea  had  been  early  formed  by  the 
Greeks,  when  they  became  masters  of  Asia.  Se. 
ns  Nicator,  the  first  and  most  sagacious  of  th* 

»  See  Note  XIX, 


44          AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION     SECT.   i. 

Syrian  kings,  at  the  time  when  he  was  assassinated, 
entertained  thoughts  of  forming  a  junction  be- 
tween the  Caspian  and  Euxine  seas  by  a  canal,* 
and  if  this  could  have  been  effected,  his  subjects, 
besides  the  extension  of  their  trade  in  Europe, 
might  have  supplied  all  the  countries  in  the  North 
of  Asia,  on  the  coast  of  the  Euxine  sea  as  well 
as  many  of  those  which  stretch  eastward  from  the 
Caspian,  with  the  productions  of  India.  As  those 
countries,  though  now  thinly  inhabited  by  a  miser- 
able race  of  men,  destitute  of  industry  and  of 
wealth,  were  in  ancient  times  extremely  populous, 
and  filled  with  great  and  opulent  cities,  this  must 
have  been  considered  as  a  branch  of  commerce  of 
such  magnitude  and  value,  as  to  render  the  securing 
of  it  an  object  worthy  the  attention  of  the  most 
powerful  monarch. 

But  while  the  monarchs  of  Egypt  and  Syria 
laboured  with  emulation  and  ardour  to  secure  to 
their  subjects  all  the  advantages  of  the  Indian 
trade,  a  power  arose  in  the  West  which  proved 
fatal  to  both.  The  Romans,  by  the  vigour  of 
their  military  institutions,  and  the  wisdom  of  their 
political  conduct,  having  rendered  themselves  mas- 
ters of  all  Italy  and  Sicily,  soon  overturned  the  rival 
republic  of  Carthage,  A.  C.  55,  subjected  Macedo- 
nia and  Greece,  extended  their  dominion  over  Syria, 
and  at  last  turned  their  victorious  arms  against 
Egypt,  the  only  kingdom  remaining  of  those  esta- 

*  Plin,  Nat.  Hist.  lib.  vi.  c.  11. 


SECT.  i.     CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.  45 

blished  by  the  successors  of  Alexander  the  Great. 
After  a  series  of  events  which  belong  not  to  the 
subject  of  this  Disquisition,  Egypt  was  annexed  to 
the  Roman  empire,  and  reduced  into  the  form  of  a 
Roman  province  by  Augustus.  Aware  of  its  great 
importance,  he,  with  that  provident  sagacity  which 
distinguishes  his  character,  not  only  reserved  it  as 
one  of  the  provinces  subject  immediately  to  imperial 
authority,  but  by  various  precautions,  well  known 
to  every  scholar,  provided  for  its  security.  This 
extraordinary  solicitude  seems  to  have  proceeded 
not  only  from  considering  Egypt  as  one  of  the  chief 
granaries  on  which  the  capital  depended  for  sub- 
sistence, but  as  the  seat  of  that  lucrative  commerce 
which  had  enabled  its  ancient  monarchs  to  amass 
such  enormous  wealth,  as  excited  the  admiration  and 
envy  of  other  princes,  and  produced,  when  brought 
into  the  treasury  of  the  empire,  a  considerable  al- 
teration both  in  the  value  of  property,  and  the 
btate  of  manners,  in  Rome  itself. 


AN 

HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION 


CONCERNING 


ANCIENT  INDIA, 


SECTION    II. 

INTERCOURSE  -WITH  INDIA,  FROM  THE  ESTABLISHMENT  OF 
THE  ROMAN  DOMINION  IN  EGYPT,  TO  THE  CONQUEST  OF 
THAT  KINGDOM  I>Y  THE  MAHOMEDANS. 

UPON  the  conquest  of  Egypt  by  the  Romans, 
and  the  reduction  of  that  kingdom  to  a  province  of 
their  empire,  the  trade  with  India  continued  to  be 
carried  on  in  the  same  mode  under  their  power- 
ful protection :  Rome,  enriched  with  the  spoils 
and  the  tribute  of  almost  all  the  known  world, 
had  acquired  a  taste  for  luxuries  of  every  kind. 
Among  people  of  this  description,  the  produc- 
tions of  India  have  always  been  held  in  the  highest 
estimation.  The  capital  of  the  greatest  empire  ever 
established  in  Europe,  filled  with  citizens,  who  had 
now  no  occupation  but  to  enjoy  and  dissipate  the 
wealth  accumulated  by  their  ancestors,  demanded 


SECT.  n.     CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.          47 

every  thing  elegant,  rare,  or  costly,  which  that 
remote  region  could  furnish,  in  order  to  support 
its  pomp,  or  heighten  its  pleasures.  To  supply 
this  demand,  new  and  extraordinary  efforts  be- 
came requisite,  and  the  commerce  with  India  in- 
creased to  a  degree,  which  (as  I  have  observed  in 
another  place*)  will  appear  astonishing  even  to  the 
present  age,  in  which  that  branch  of  trade  has 
been  extended  far  beyond  th£  practice  or  concep- 
tion of  any  former  period. 

Besides  the  Indian  commodities  imported  into 
the  capital  of  the  empire  from  Egypt,  the  Romans 
received  an  additional  supply  of  them  by  another 
mode  of  conveyance.  From  the  earliest  times, 
there  seems  to  have  been  some  communication  be- 
tween Mesopotamia,  and  other  provinces  on  the 
banks  of  the  Euphrates,  and  those  parts  of  Syria 
and  Palestine,  which  lay  near  the  Mediterranean. 
The  migration  of  Abram  from  Ur,  of  the  Chaldees 
from  Sichem  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  is  an  instance 
of  this.f  The  journey  through  the  desert,  which 
separated  these  countries,  was  much  facilitated  by 
its  affording  one  station  abounding  with  water, 
und  capable  gf  cultivation.  As  the  intercourse  in- 
creased, the  possession  of  this  station  became  an  ob- 
ject of  so  much  importance,  that  Solomon,  when  he 
turned  his  attention  towards  the  extension  of  com- 
merce among  his  subjects,  built  a  fenced  city  there.  £ 

*  Hist,  of  America,  vol.  i.  p.  25.  t  Genes,  xi.  xii. 

t  I  Kings,  ix,  18.     2  Chron.  viii,  4. 


48  AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION    SECT,  n 

its  Syrian  name  of  Tadmor  in  the  wilderness, 
and  its  Greek  one  of  Palmyra,  are  both  de 
scriptive  of  its  situation  in  a  spot  adorned  with 
palm-trees.  This  is  not  only  plentifully  supplied 
with  water,  but  surrounded  by  a  portion  of  fertile 
hind,  which  (though  of  no  great  extent)  renders  it  a 
delightful  habitation  in  the  midst  of  barren  sand,  and 
an  inhospitable  desert.  Its  happy  position,  at  the  dis- 
tance of  eighty-five  milesfrom  the  river  Euphrates, 
and  about  one  hundred  and  seventeen  miles  from 
the  nearest  coast  of  the  Mediterranean,*'  induced  its 
inhabitants  to  enter  with  ardour  into  the  trade  of  con- 
veying commodities  from  one  of  these  to  the  other. 
As  the  most  valuable  productions  of  India,  brought 
up  the  Euphrates  from  the  Persian  Gulf,  are  of  such 
small  bulk  as  to  bear  the  expense  of  a  long  land- 
carriage,  this  trade  soon  became  so  considerable 
that  the  opulence  and  power  of  Palmyra  increased 
rapidly.  Its  government  was  of  the  form  which  is 
best  suited  to  the  genius  of  a  commercial  city, 
republican ;  and  from  the  peculiar  advantages  of  its 
situation,  as  well  as  the  spirit  of  its  inhabitants, 
it  long  maintained  its  independence,  though  sur- 
rounded by  powerful  and  ambitious  neighbours. 

*  In  a  former  edition,  I  stated  the  distance  of  Palmyra 
from  the  Euphrates  at  sixty  miles,  and  from  the  Mediter- 
ranean at  two  hundred  and  three  miles.  Into  these  errors  I 
was  led  by  M.  D'Anville,  who,  in  his  Memoire  sur  1'Eu- 
phrate  et  le  Tigris,  a  work  published  in  old  age,  did  not 
retain  his  wonted  accuracy.  From  information  communi- 
cated by  major  Rennell,  I  have  substituted  the  true  distances* 


.  ii.     CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.  49 

Under  the  Syrian  monarchs  descended  from  Seleu- 
cus  it  attained  to  its  highest  degree  of  splendour 
and  wealth,  one  great  source  of  which  seems  to 
have  been  the  supplying  their  subjects  with  In- 
dian commodities.  When  Syria  submitted  to  the 
irresistible  arms  of  Rome,  Palmyra  continued  up- 
wards of  two  centuries  a  free  state,  and  its  friend- 
ship was  courted  with  emulation  and  solicitude  by 
the  Romans,  and  their  rivals  for  empire,  the  Par- 
thians.  That  it  traded  with  both,  and  particularly 
that  from  it  Rome  as  well  as  other  parts  of  the  em- 
pire received  the  productions  of  India,  we  learn 
from  Appian,  an  author  of  good  credit.*  But  in 
tracing  the  progress  of  the  commerce  of  the  an- 
cients with  the  East,  I  should  not  have  ventured, 
upon  his  single  testimony,  to  mention  this  among 
the  channels  of  note  in  which  it  was  carried  on,  if 
a  singular  discovery,  for  which  wre  are  indebted  to 
the  liberal  curiosity  and  enterprising  spirit  of  our 
own  countrymen,  did  not  confirm  and  illustrate 
what  he  relates.  Towards  the  close  of  the  last 
century,  some  gentlemen  of  the  English  factory  at 
Aleppo,  incited  by  what  they  heard  in  the  East 
concerning  the  wonderful  ruins  of  Palmyra,  ven- 
tured, notwithstanding  the  fatigue  and  danger  of  a 
journey  through  the  desert>  to  visit  them.  To  their 
astonishment  they  beheld  a  fertile  spot  of  some 
miles  in  extent  arising  like  an  island  out  of  a  vast 
plain  of  sand,  covered  with  the  remains  of  temples, 
porticoes,  aqueducts,  and  other  public  works,  which, 

*  Appian.  de  Bello  Civil,  lib.  v.  p.  1076.  edit.  T»1JH, 

IT 


50          AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION     SECT.  H. 

in  magnificence  and  splendour,  and  some  of  them 
in  elegance,  were  not  unworthy  of  Athens  or  of 
Rome  in  their  most  prosperous  state.  Allured  by 
their  description  of  them,  aboujt  sixty  years  there- 
after, a  party  of  more  enlightened  travellers,  hav- 
ing reviewed  the  ruins  of  Palmyra  with  greater 
attention  and  more  scientific  skill,  declared  that 
what  they  beheld  there  exceeded  the  most  ex- 
alted  ideas  which  they  had  formed  concerning 
it.* 

From  both  these  accounts,  as  well  as  from  re- 
collecting the  extraordinary  degree  of  power  to 
which  Palmyra  had  attained,  when  Egypt,  Syria, 
Mesopotamia,  and  a  considerable  part  of  Asia 
Minor  were  conquered  by  its  arms ;  when  Odena- 
tus,  its  chief  magistrate,  was  decorated  with  the 
imperial  purple,  and  Zenobia  contended  for  the 
dominion  of  the  East  with  Rome  under  one  of  its 
most  warlike  emperors,  it  is  evident  that  a  state 
which  could  derive  little  importance  from  its  origi- 
nal territory  must  have  owed  its  aggrandisement 
to  the  opulence  acquired  by  extensive  commerce. 
Of  this  the  Indian  trade  was  undoubtedly  the  most 
considerable,  and  most  lucrative  branch.  But  it  is 
a  cruel  mortification,  in  searching  for  what  is  in- 
structive in  the  history  of  past  times,  to  find  that 
the  exploits  of  conquerors  who  have  desolated  the 
earth,  and  the  freaks  of  tyrants  who  have  ren- 
dered nations  unhappy,  are  recorded  with  minute 

*  Wood's  Ruins  of  Palmyra,  p.  37. 


SECT.  ii.     CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.  51 

and  often  disgusting  accuracy,  while  the  discovery 
of  useful  arts,  and  the  progress  of  the  most  bene- 
licial  branches  of  commerce,  are  passed  over  in 
silence,  and  suifered  to  sink  into  oblivion. 

After  the  conquest  of  Palmyra  by  Aurelian,  trade 
never  revived  there.  At  present  a  few  miserable 
huts  of  beggarly  Arabs  are  scattered  in  the  courts 
of  its  stately  temples,  or  deform  its  elegant  porti- 
coes ;  and  exhibit  an  humiliating  contrast  to  its  an- 
cient magnificence. 

But  while  the  merchants  of  Egypt  and  Syria  ex- 
erted their  activity  in  order  to  supply  the  increas- 
ing demands  of  Rome  for  Indian  commodities, 
and  vied  with  each  other  in  their  efforts,  the  eager- 
ness of  gain  (as  Pliny  observes)  brought  India 
itself  nearer  to  the  rest  of  the  world.  In  the  course 
of  their  voyages  to  that  country,  the  Greek  and 
Egyptian  pilots  could  not  fail  to  observe  the  regu- 
lar shifting  of  the  periodical  winds  or  monsoons,  and 
how  steadily  they  continued  to  blow  during  one 
part  of  the  year  from  the  East,  and  during  the 
other  from  the  West.  Encouraged  by  attending  to 
this  circumstance,  Hippalus,  the  commander  of  a 
ship  engaged  in  the  Indian  trade,  ventured,  about 
fourscore  years  after  Egypt  was  annexed  to  the 
Roman  empire,  to  relinquish  the  slow  and  cir- 
cuitous course  which  I  have  described,  and  stretch- 
ing  boldly  from  the  mouth  of  the  Arabian  Gulf 
across  the  ocean,  was  carried  by  the  western  mon- 


52  AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION      SECT,  n. 

soon  to  Musiris,  a  harbour  in  that  part  of  India,, 
now  known  by  the  name  of  the  Malabar  coast. 
*     This  route  to  India  was  held  to  be  a  discovery 

¥ 

of  such  importance,  that  in  order  to  perpetuate  :he 
memory  of  the  inventor,  the  name  of  Hippalus  was 
given  to  the  wind  which  enabled  him  to  perform 
the  voyage.*  As  this  was  one  of  the  greatest  ef- 
forts of  Navigation  in  the  ancient  world,  and  open- 
ed the  best  communication  by  sea  between  the  East 
and  West  that  was  known  for  fourteen  hundred 
years,  it  merits  a  particular  description.  Fortu- 
nately Pliny  has  enabled  us  to  give  it  with  a  degree 
of  accuracy,  which  can  seldom  be  attained  in  trac- 
ing the  naval  or  commercial  operations  of  the 
ancients.  From  Alexandria  (he  observes)  to  Ju- 
liopolis  is  two  miles ;  there  the  cargo  destined  for 
India  is  embarked  on  the  Nile,  and  is  carried  to 
Coptos,  which  is  distant  three  hundred  and  three 
miles,  and  the  voyage  is  usually  accomplished  in 
twelve  days.  From  Coptos  goods  are  conveyed  by 
land  carnage  to  Berenice  on  the  Arabian  Gulf,  halt- 
ing at  different  stations  regulated  according  to  the 
convenicncy  of  watering.  The  distance  between 
these  cities  is  two  hundred  and  fifty -eight  miles. 
On  account  of  the  heat  the  Caravan  travels  only 
during  the  night,  and  the  journey  is  finished  on 
the  twelfth  day.  From  Berenice,  ships  take  their  de- 
parture about  midsummer,  and  in  thirty  days  reach 
Ocelis  (Gella)  at  the  mouth  of  the  Arabian  Gulf, 

*  Perip,  Mar.  Erythr.  p.  3.3. 


SECT.  ii.      CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.        & 

or  Cane  (Cape  Fartaque)  on  the  coast  of  Arabia 
Fehx.  Thence  they  sail  in  forty  clays  to  Musiris, 
the  first  emporium  in  India.  They  begin  their 
voyage  homewards  early  in  the  Egyptian  month 
Thibi,  which  answers  to  our  December  -3  they  sail 
with  a  north-east  wind,  and  when  they  enter  the 
Arabian  Guif  meet  with  a  south  or  south-west 
wind,  and  thus  complete  the  voyage  in  less  than 
a  year.* 

The  account  which  Piiny  gives  of  Musiris,  and 
of  Barace,  another  harbour  not  far  distant,  which 
was  likewise  frequented  by  the  ships  from  Berenice, 
as  being  both  so  incommodious  for  trade  on  ac- 
count of  the  shailowness  of  the  ports,  that  it  be- 
came necessary  to  discharge  and  take  in  the  car- 
goes in  small  boats,  does  not  enable  us  to  fix 
their  position  with  perfect  accuracy.  This  descrip- 
tion applies  to  many  ports  on  the  Malabar  coast, 
but  from  two  circumstances  mentioned  by  him  ; 
one,  that  they  are  not  far  distant  from  Cottonara 
the  country  which  produces  pepper  in  great  abun- 
dance ;  and  the  other,  that  in  sailing  towards  them 
the  course  lay  near  Nitrias,  the  station  of  the  pi- 
rates ;  I  adopt  the  opinion  of  major  Rennell,  that 
they  were  situated  somewhere  between  Goa  and 
Tellicherry,  and  that  probably  the  modern  Meer- 
zaw  or  Merjee  is  the  Musiris  of  the  ancients, 
and  Barcelore  their  Barace. f 

*  PHn.  Nat.  Hist.  lib.  vi.  c.  23.     See  NOTE  XX. 

*  Introcl.  p.  xxxvii, 


54          AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION     SECT.  u. 

As  in  these  two  ports  was  the  principal  staple  of 
the  trade  between  Egypt  and  India,  when  in  its 
most  flourishing  state,  «this  seems  to  be  the  proper 
place  for  inquiring  into  the  nature  of  the  commerce 
which  the  ancients,  particularly  the  Romans,  car- 
ried on  with  that  country,  and  for  enumerating  the 
commodities  most  in  request,  which  they  imported 
from  it.  But  as  the  operations  of  commerce  and 
the  mode  of  regulating  it,  were  little  attended  to  in 
those  states  of  antiquity,  of  whose  transactions  we 
have  any  accurate  knowledge ;  their  historians  hardly 
enter  into  any  detail  concerning  a  subject  of  such 
subordinate  importance  in  their  political  system, 
and  it  is  mostly  from  brief  hints,  detached  facts, 
and  incidental  observations,  that  we  can  gather  in- 
formation concerning  it.* 

In  every  age,  it  has  been  a  commerce  of  luxu- 
ry, rather  than  of  necessity,  which  has  been  carried 
on  between  Europe  and  India.  Its  elegant  manu- 
factures, spices,  and  precious  stones,  are  neither 
objects  of  desire  to  nations  of  simple  manners, 
nor  are  such  nations  possessed  of  wealth  sufficient 
to  purchase  them.  But  at  the  time  the  Romans 
became  masters  of  the  Indian  trade,  they  were 
not  only  (as  has  already  been  observed)  in  that 
stage  of  society  when  men  are  eager  to  obtain  every 
thing  that  can  render  the  enjoyment  of  life  more 
exquisite,  or  add  to  its  splendour,  but  they  had 
acquired  all  the  fantastic  tastes  formed  by  the 

*  See  NOTE  XXI. 


SECT.  ii.        CONCERNING  AttCIENT  INDIA.        55 

caprice  and  extravagance  of  wealth.  They  were  of 
consequence  highly  delighted  with  those  new  ob- 
jects of  gratification  with  which  India  supplied  them 
in  such  abundance.  The  productions  of  that  coun- 
try, natural  as  well  as  artificial,  seem  to  have  been 
much  the  same  in  that  age  as  in  the  present.  But 
the  taste  of  the  Romans  in  luxury  differed  in  many 
respects  from  that  of  modern  times,  and  of  course 
their  demands  from  India  differed  considerably 
from  ours. 

In  order  to  convey  an  idea  of  their  demands  as 
complete  as  possible,  I  shall  in  the  first  place  make 
some  observations  on  the  three  great  articles  of  ge- 
neral importation  from  India.  1.  Spices  and  aro- 
matics.  2.  Precious  stones  and  pearls.  3.  Silk. 
And  then  I  shall  give  some  account  (as  far  as  I 
can  venture  to  do  it  from  authentic  information)  of 
the  assortment  of  cargoes  both  outward  and  home- 
ward bound,  for  the  vessels  fitted  out  at  Berenice 
to  different  ports  of  India. 

1.  Spices  and  aromatics.  From  the  mode  of 
religious  worship  in  the  heathen  world ;  from  the 
incredible  number  of  their  deities,  and  of  the  tem- 
ples consecrated  to  them  ;  the  consumption  of  frank- 
incense and  other  aromatics  which  were  used  in 
every  sacred  function,  must  have  been  very  great. 
But  the  vanity  of  men  occasioned  a  greater  con- 
sumption of  these  fragrant  substances,  than  their 
piety.  It  was  the  custom  of  the  Romans  to  burn 
the  bodies  of  their  dead,  and  they  deemed  it  a  dis- 
play of  magnificence,  to  cover  not  only  the  body. 


ob  AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION     SECT.  ir. 

but  the  funeral  pile  on  which  it  was  laid,  with  the 
most  costly  spices.     At  the  funeral  of  Sylla,  two 
hundred  and   ten  burdens  of  spices  were  strewed 
upon  the  pile*     Nero  is  reported  to  have  burnt  a 
quantity  of  cinnamon  and  cassia  at  the  funeral  of 
Pappoea,  greater  than  the  countries  from  which  it 
was  imported  produced  in  one  year.     We  consume 
in  heaps  these  precious  substances  with  the  carca- 
ses of  the  dead  (says  Pliny) :  We  offer  them  to  *he 
Gods  only  in  grains.*     It  was  not  from   India,  I 
am  aware,  but  from  Arabia,  that  arornatics  were  first 
imported  into  Europe ;  and  some  of  them,  particu- 
larly frankincense,  were  productions  of  thai  country. 
But  the  Arabians  were  accustomed,  together  with 
spices  of  native  growth,   to  furnish  foreign   mer- 
chants with  others   of  higher  value,    which   they 
brought  from   India,   and  the  regions    beyond    it. 
The  commercial  intercourse  of  the  Arabians  with 
the  eastern  parts  of  Asia,  was  not  only  early,    but 
considerable.     By  means  of  their  trading  caravans, 
they  conveyed  into  their  own  country  all  the  valua- 
ble productions  of  the  East,  among  which,  spices 
held  a  chief  place.     In  every  ancient  account  of 
Indian  commodities,    spices  and  arornatics  of  va- 
rious kinds  form   a   principal   article,  f     Some   au- 
thors assert  that  the  greater  part  of  those  purchas- 
ed in  Arabia  were  not  the  growth  of  that  coun- 
try,   but   brought    from    India. {     That    this    as- 

*  Nat.  Hist.  lib.  xii.  c.  18. 

t  Peripl.  Mar.  Eryth.  p.  22.  28.     Strabo,   lib.  ii.  p.   156' 
A.  lib.  xv.  p.  1018.  A. 

J  Strabo,  lib.  xvii.  p.  1 129.  C. 


SECT.  ii.     CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.  5? 

sertion  was  well  founded,  appears  from  what  has 
been  observed  in  modern  times.  The  frankincense 
of  Arabia,  though  reckoned  the  peculiar  and  most 
precious  production  of  the  country,  is  much  infe- 
rior in  quality  to  that  imported  into  it  from  the  East ; 
and  it  is  chiefly  with  the  latter,  that  the  Arabians  at 
present  supply  the  extensive  demands  of  various 
provinces  of  Asia  for  this  commodity.*  It  is  upon 
good  authority,  then,  that  I  have  mentioned  the 
importation  of  spices  as  one  of  the  most  consider- 
able branches  of  ancient  commerce  with  India.  In 
the  Augustan  age,  an  entire  street  in  Rome  seems 
to  have  been  occupied  by  those  who  sold  frankin- 
cense, pepper,  and  other  aromatics.t 

II.  Precious  stones,  together  with  which  pearls 
may  be  classed,  seem  to  be  the  article  next  in  value 
imported  by  the  Romans  from  the  East.  As  these 
have  no  pretension  to  be  of  any  real  use,  their  value 
arises  entirely  from  their  beauty  and  their  rarity,  and 
even  when  estimated  most  moderately  is  always  high. 
But  among  nations  far  advanced  in  luxury,  when 
they  are  deemed  not  only  ornaments,  but  marks 
of  distinction,  the  vain  and  the  opulent  vie  so 
eagerly  with  one  another  for  the  possession  of  them, 
that  they  rise  in  price  to  an  exorbitant  and  al- 
most incredible  height.  Diamonds,  though  the  art 
of  cutting  them  was  imperfectly  known  to  the  an- 
eients,  held  an  high  place  in  estimation  among 

*  Niebuhr.  Descript.  de  TAryabie,  torn.  i.  p.  126, 
i  Hor.  lib.  ii.  epist.  1, 

I 


M          AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION      SECT.  n. 

them  as  well  as  among  us.  The  comparative  va 
lue  of  other  precious  stones  varied  according  to 
the  diversity  of  tastes  and  the  caprice  of  fashion. 
The  immense  number  of  them  mentioned  by  Pliny, 
and  the  laborious  care  with  which  he  describes  and 
arranges  them,*  will  astonish,  I  should  suppose, 
the  most  skilful  lapidary  or  jeweller  of  modern  times ; 
and  shews  the  high  request  in  which  they  were 
held  by  the  Romans. 

But  among  all  the  articles  of  luxury,  the  Ro- 
mans seem  to  have  given  the  preference  to  pearls,! 
Persons  of  every  rank  purchased  them  with  eager- 
ness ;  they  were  worn  on  every  part  of  dress ;  and 
there  is  such  a  difference,  both  in  size  and  in  va- 
lue, among  pearls,  that  while  such  as  were  large 
and  of  superior  lustre  adorned  the  wealthy  and 
the  great,  smaller  ones  and  of  inferior  quality  grati- 
fied the  vanity  of  persons  in  more  humble  stations 
of  life.  Julius  Czesar  presented  Servilia,  the  mo- 
ther of  Brutus,  with  a  pearl,  for  which  he  paid 
forty-eight  thousand  four  hundred  and  lift}'- seven 
pounds.  The  famous  pearl  ear-rings  of  Cleopatra 
were  in  value  one  hundred  and  sixty-one  thousand 
four  hundred  and  fifty-eight  pounds.}  Precious 
stones,  it  is  true,  as  well  as  pearls,  were  found 
not  only  in  India,  but  in  many  different  countries, 
and  all  were  ransacked  in  order  to  gratify  the  pride 
of  Rome.  India,  however,  furnished  the  chief  part, 

*  Nat.  Hist.  lib.  xxxvii.  f  See  NOTE  XXII. 

I  Plin.  Nat.  Hist.  lib.  ix.  c.  35.         See  NOTE  XXIII.. 


SECT.  ii.    CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.  5Q 

and  its  productions  \vcre  allowed  to  be  most  abun- 
dant, diversified,  and  valuable. 

III.  Another  production  of  India  in  great  demand 
at  Rome,  was  silk  ;  and  when  we  recollect  the  va- 
riety of  elegant  fabrics  into  which  it  may  be  form- 
ed, and  how  much  these  have  added  to  the  splen- 
dour of  dress  and  furniture,  we  cannot  wonder  at 
its  being  held  in  such  estimation  by  luxurious  peo- 
ple. The  price  it  bore  was  exorbitant?  but  it 
was  deemed  a  dress  too  expensive  and  too  delicate 
for  men,*  and  was  appropriated  wholly  to  women 
of  eminent  rank  and  opulence.  This,  however,  did 
not  render  the  demand  for  it  less  eager,  especially 
after  the  example  of  the  dissolute  Elagabalus  intro- 
duced the  use  of  it  among  the  other  sex,  and  ac- 
customed men  to  the  disgrace  (as  the  severity  of 
ancient  ideas  accounted  it)  of  wearing  this  effeminate 
garb.  Two  circumstances  concerning  the  traffic  of 
silk  among  the  Romans  merit  observation.  Con- 
trary to  what  usual h'  takes  place  in  the  operations 
of  trade,  the  more  general  use  of  that  eommodity 
scems  not  to  have  increased  the  quantity  imported, 
in  such  proportion  as  to  answer  the  growing-  demand 
for  it,  and  the  price  of  silk  was  not  reduced  during 
the  course  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  from  the 
time  of  its  being  first  known  in  Rome.  In  the 
reign  of  Aurelian,  it  still  continued  to  be  valued 
at  its  weight  in  gold.  This,  it  is  probable  was  ow. 


*  Tacit.  Annal.  lib.  ii.  c.  33, 


60  AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION    SECT,  u, 

ing  to  the  mode  in  which  that  commodity  was  pro- 
cured by  the  merchants  of  Alexandria.     They  had 
no  direct  intercourse  with  China,  the  only  country 
in  which  the  silk-worm  was  then  reared,   and  its 
labour  rendered  an  article  of  commerce.     All  the 
silk    wrhich   they  purchased  in  the  different   ports 
of  India  that  they  frequented,  was  brought  thither 
in  ships  of  the  country  ;  and  either  from  some  de- 
fect of  skill  in  managing  the  silk-worm,  the  pro- 
duce of  its  ingenious  industry  among  the  Chinese 
was  scanty,  or  the  intermediate  dealers  found  great- 
er advantage  in  furnishing  the  market  of  Alexandria 
with  a   small   quantity    at  an  high  price,  than  to 
lower  its  value  by  increasing  the  quantity.     The 
other  circumstance  which   I  had  in  view  is  more 
extraordinary,  and  affords  a  striking  proof  of  the 
imperfect  communication  of  the  ancients  with  re- 
mote nations,  and  of  the  slender  knowledge  which 
they  had  of  their  natural  productions  or  arts.     Much 
as  the  manufactures  of  silk  were  admired,   and  of- 
ten as  silk  is  mentioned  by  the  Greek  and  Roman 
authors,  they  had  not,  for  several  centuries,  after 
the  use  of  it  became  common,  any  certain  know* 
ledge  either  of  the   countries  to  which  they  were, 
indebted  for  this  favourite  article  of  elegance,  or 
of  the  manner  in  which  it  was  produced.     By  some, 
silk  was  supposed  to  be  a  fine  down  adhering  to 
the  leaves  of  certain  trees  or  flowers ;  others  imagin- 
ed it  to  be  a  delicate    species  of  wool   or  cotton ; 
and  even  those  who  had  learned  that  it  was  the  work 
ef  an  insect,  shew,  by  their  descriptions,  that  they 


,B»CT.  ii.     CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.  61 

had  no  distinct  idea  of  the  manner  in  which  it  was 
formed.*  It  was  in  consequence  of  an  event  that 
happened  in  the  sixth  century  of  the  Christian  era^ 
of  which  I  shall  hereafter  take  notice,  that  the  real 
nature  of  silk  became  known  in  Europe. 

The  other  commodities  usually  imported  from 
India,   will  be  mentioned  in  the  account,  which  I 
now  proceed  to  give,  of  the  cargoes  sent  out  and 
brought  home  in  the  ships  employed  in  the  trade 
with  that  country.     For  this  we  are  indebted   to 
the  circumnavigation  of  the  Erythraean  Sea,  ascrib- 
ed to  Arrian,  a  curious  though  short  treatise,  less 
known  than  it  deserves  to  be,   and  which  enters 
into  some  details  concerning  commerce,  to  which 
there  is  nothing  similar  in  any  ancient  writer.     The 
first  place  in  India,  in  which  the  ships  from  Egypt, 
while  they  followed  the  ancient  course  of  naviga- 
tion, were  accustomed  to  trade,  was  Patala  in  the 
River  Indus.     They  imported  into  it  woollen  cloth 
of  a   slight   fabric,  linen   in  chequer  work,   some 
precious  stones,  and  some  aromatics   unknown  in 
India,  coral,  storax,  glass  vessels  of  different  kinds, 
some  wrought  silver,  money,  and  wine.     In  return 
for  these,  they  received  spices   of  various  kinds, 
sapphires,  and  other  gems,  silk  stuffs,   silk  thread, 
cotton  cloths, t  and  black  pepper.     But  a  far  more 
considerable  emporium  on  the  same  coast  was  Ba- 
rygaza,  and  on  that  account  the  author,  whom  I 
follow  here,  describes  its  situation,  and  the  mode  of 

*  See  NOTE  XXIV.  t  See  NOTE  XXV 


62          AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION     SECT.  n. 

approaching  it,  with  great  minuteness  and  accuracy. 
Its  situation  corresponds  entirely  with  that  of  Ba- 
roach,  on  the  great  river  Nerbuddah,  down  the 
stream  of  which,  or  by  land- carnage,  from  the 
great  city  of  Tagara  across  high  mountains,*  all 
the  productions  of  the  interior  country  were  con- 
veyed to  it.  The  articles  of  importation  and  ex- 
portation in  this  great  mart  were  extensive  and  va- 
rious. Besides  these  already  mentioned,  our  author 
enumerates  among  the  former,  Italian,  Greek,  and 
Arabian  wines,  brass,  tin,  lead,  girdles  or  sashes 
of  curious  texture,  melilot,  white  glass,  red  ar- 
senic, black  lead,  gold  and  silver  coin.  Among 
the  exports  he  mentions  the  onyx,  and  other  gems, 
ivory,  myrrh,  various  fabrics  of  cotton,  both  plain 
and  ornamented  with  flowers,  and  long  pepper,  f 
At  Musiris,  the  next  emporium  of  note  on  that 
coast,  the  articles  imported  were  much  the  same 
us  at  Barygaza ;  but  as  it  lay  nearer  to  the  eastern 
parts  of  India,  and  seems  to  have  had  much  com- 
munication with  them,  the  commodities  exported 
from  it  were  more  numerous  and  more  valuable. 
He  specifies  particularly  pearls  in  great  abundance 
and  of  extraordinary  beauty,  a  variety  of  silk  stuffs, 
rich  perfumes,  tortoise-shell,  different  kinds  of  trans- 
parent  gems,  especially  diamonds,  and  pepper  in 
large  quantities,  and  of  the  best  quality  .f 

*  See  NOTE  XXVI. 

t  Peripl.  Mar.  Erythr.  p.  28.  j  Ibid,  si,  32. 


SECT.  ii.      CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.          63 

The  justness  of  the  account  given  by  this  author 
of  the  articles  imported  from  India,  is  confirmed 
by  a  Roman  law,  in  which  the  Indian  commodities 
subject  to  the  payment  of  duties  are  enumerated.* 
By  comparing  these  two  accounts,  we  may  form  an 
idea  tolerably  exact,  of  the  nature  and  extent  of 
the  trade  with  India  in  ancient  times. 

As  the  state  of  society  and  manners  among  the 
natives  of  India,  in  the  earliest  period  in  which 
they  are  known,  nearly  resembled  what  we  observe 
among  their  descendants  in  the  present  age ;  their 
wants  and  demands  were,  of  course,  much  the 
same.  The  ingenuity  of  their  own  artists  was  so 
able  to  supply  these,  that  they  stood  little  in  need 
of  foreign  manufactures  or  productions,  except 
some  of  the  useful  metals,  which  their  own  coun- 
try did  not  furnish  in  sufficient  quantity ;  and  then, 
as  now,  it  was  mostly  with  gold  and  silver  that 
the  luxuries  of  the  East  were  purchased.  In  two 
particulars,  however,  our  importations  from  India 
differ  greatly  from  those  of  the  ancients.  The 
dress,  both  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  was  almost 
entirely  woollen,  which,  by  their  frequent  use  of 
the  warm  bath,  was  rendered  abundantly  comforta- 
ble. Their  consumption  of  linen  and  cotton  cloths 
was  much  inferior  to  that  of  modern  times,  when 
these  are  worn  by  persons  in  every  rank  of  life, 

*  Digest,  lib.  xxxix.  tit.  iv.  §  16.     De  publicanis  et  vec- 
tvgalibus. 


64          AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION      SECT,  n/ 

Accordingly,  a  great  branch  of  modern  importa- 
tion from  that  part  of  India  with  which  the  an. 
cients  were  acquainted,  is  in  piece-goods ;  com- 
prehending under  that  mercantile  term,  the  immense 
variety  of  fabrics  which  Indian  ingenuity  has  form- 
ed of  cotton.  But  as  far  as  I  have  observed,  we 
have  no  authority  that  will  justify  us  in  stating  the 
ancient  importation  of  these  to  be  in  any  degree 
considerable. 

In  modern  times,  though  it  continues  still  to  be 
chiefly  a  commerce  of  luxury  that  is  carried  on 
with  India,  yet,  together  with  the  articles  that  min- 
ister to  it,  we  import  to  a  considerable  extent, 
various  commodities  which  are  to  be  considered 
merely  as  the  materials  of  our  domestic  manufac- 
tures. Such  are,  the  cotton-wool  of  Indostan,  the 
silk  of  China,  and  the  salt-petre  of  Bengal.  But, 
in  the  accounts  of  ancient  importations  from  India, 
raw  silk  and  silk-thread  excepted,  I  find  nothing 
mentioned  that  could  serve  as  the  materials  of  any 
home-manufacture.  The  navigation  of  the  ancients 
never  having  extended  to  China,  the  quantity  of 
unwrought  silk  with  which  they  were  supplied,  by 
means  of  the  Indian  traders,  appears  to  have  been 
so  scanty,  that  the  manufacture  of  it  could  not 
make  an  addition  of  any  moment  to  their  domestic 
industry. 

After  this  succinct  account  of  the  commerce 
carried  on  by  the  ancients  in  India,  I  proceed  to 
inquire  what  knowledge  they  had  of  the  countries 


SECT.  ii.     CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.  S* 

beyond  the  ports  of  Musiris  and  Barace,  the  utmost 
boundary  towards  the  East  to  which  I  have  hither- 
to traced  their  progress.  The  author  of  the  cir- 
cumnavigation of  the  Erythraean  Sea,  whose  ac- 
curacy of  description  justifies  the  confidence  with 
which  I  have  followed  him  for  some  time,  seems 
to  have  been  little  acquainted  with  that  part  of  the 
coast  which  stretches  from  Barace  towards  the 
south.  He  mentions,  indeed  cursorily,  two  or  three 
different  ports,  but  gives  no  intimation  that  any 
of  them  were  staples  of  the  commerce  with  Egypt. 
He  hastens  to  Comar,  or  Cape  Comorin,  the  south- 
ernmost point  of  the  Indian  peninsula ;  and  his  des- 
cription of  it  is  so  accurate,  and  so  conformable 
to  its  real  state,  as  shews  his  information  concern^ 
ing  it  to  have  been  perfectly  authentic.*  Near  to 
this  he  places  the  pearl  fishery  of  Colchos,  the 
modern  Kilkare,  undoubtedly  the  same  with  that 
now  carried  on  by  the  Dutch  in  the  streight  which 
separates  the  island  of  Ceylon  from  the  Continent ; 
as  adjacent  to  this  he  mentions  three  different  ports, 
which  appear  to  have  been  situated  on  the  east  side 
of  the  peninsula  now  known  by  the  name  of  the 
Coromandel  coast.  He  describes  these  as  emporia^ 
or  stations  of  trade  ;f  but  from  an  attentive  consi- 
deration of  some  circumstances  in  his  account  of 
them,  I  think  it  probable  that  the  ships  from  Bere- 
nice did  not  sail  to  any  of  these  ports,  though  they 

*  Peripl.  p.  33.     D'Anville  Ant.  de  1'Inde,  118,  &c, 
t  Peripl.  p.  34. 

K 


46          AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION    SECT.  «. 

were  supplied,  as  he  informs  us,  with  the  com- 
modities brought  from  Egypt,  as  well  as  with  the 
productions  of  the  opposite  coast  of  the  peninsula  ; 
but  these  seem  to  have  been  imported  in  country 
ships.*  It  was  likewise  in  vessels  of  their  own, 
varying  in  form  and  burden,  and  distinguished  by 
different  names,  some  of  which  he  mentions,  that 
they  traded  with  the  Golden  Chersonesus,  or  king- 
dom of  Malacca,  and  the  countries  near  the  Ganges, 
Not  far  from  the  mouth  of  that  river  he  places  an 
island,  which  he  describes  as  situated  under  the  ri- 
sing sun,  and  as  the  last  region  in  the  East  that  was 
inhabited.f  Of  all  these  parts  of  India,  the  author 
of  the  circumnavigation  appears  to  have  had  very 
slender  knowledge,  as  is  manifest,  not  only  from 
what  he  mentions  concerning  this  imaginary  island, 
and  from  his  not  attempting  to  describe  them,  but 
from  his  relating,  with  the  credulity  and  love  of 
the  marvellous,  which  always  accompany  and  char- 
acterise ignorance,  that  these  remote  regions  were 
peopled  with  cannibals,  and  men  of  uncouth  and 
tnonstrous  forms.  J 

I  have  been  induced  to  bestow  this  attention  in 
tracing  the  course  delineated  in  the  circumnaviga- 
tion of  the  Erythraean  Sea,  because  the  author 
of  it  is  the  first  ancient  writer  to  whom  we  are  in- 
debted for  any  knowledge  of  the  eastern  coast  of 
the  great  peninsula  of  India,  or  of  the  countries 
which  lie  beyond  it.  To  Strabo,  who  composed 


f  Peripl.  p.  36. 
I  Peripl,  p.  35. 


SECT.  ii.     CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.          67 

his  great  work  on  geography  in  the  reign  of  Augus- 
tus, India,  particularly  the  most  eastern  parts  of  it, 
was  little  known.  He  begins  his  description  of 
it  with  requesting  the  indulgence  of  his  readers, 
on  account  of  the  scanty  information  he  could  ob- 
tain with  respect  to  a  country  so  remote,  which 
Europeans  had  seldom  visited,  and  many  of  them 
transiently  only,  in  the  functions  of  military  service^ 
He  observes  that  even  commerce  had  contributed 
little  towards  an  accurate  investigation  of  the  coun- 
try, as  few  of  the  merchants  from  Egypt,  and  the 
Arabian  Gulf,  had  ever  sailed  as  far  as  the  Ganges ; 
and  from  men  so  illiterate,  intelligence  that  merited 
a  full  degree  of  confidence  could  scarcely  be  expect- 
ed. His  descriptions  of  India,  particularly  its  in- 
terior provinces,  are  borrowed  almost  entirely  from 
the  Memoirs  of  Alexander's  officers,  with  some 
slender  additions  from  more  recent  accounts,  and 
these  so  few  in  number,  and  sometimes  so  inaccu- 
rate, as  to  furnish  a  striking  proof  of  the  small 
progress  which  the  ancients  had  made  from  the 
time  of  Alexander,  in  exploring  that  country^ 
When  an  author,  possessed  of  such  discernment 
and  industry  as  Strabo,  who  visited  in  person, 
several  distant  regions,  that  he  might  be  able  to 
describe  them  with  greater  accuracy,  relates,  that 
the  Ganges  enters  the  ocean  by  one  mouth,*  we 
are  warranted  in  concluding,  that  in  his  time  there 
was  either  no  direct  navigation  carried  on  to  that 

*  Strabo,  lib.  xv.  1011.  C. 


68  AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION  SECT,  si- 
great  river,  by  the  traders  from  the  Arabian  Gulf, 
or  that  this  voyage  was  undertaken  so  seldom  that 
science  had  not  then  derived  much  information  from 
it. 

The  next  author  in  order  of  time,  from  whom 
we  receive  any  account  of  India  is  the  elder  Pliny, 
who  flourished  about  fifty  years  later  than  Strabo. 
As  in  the  short  description  of  India,  given  in  his 
Natural  History,  he  follows  the  same  guides  with 
Strabo,  and  seems  to  have  had  no  knowledge  of 
the  interior  country,  but  what  he  derived  from  the 
Memoirs  of  the  Officers  who  served  under  Alex- 
ander and  his  immediate  successors,  it  is  unneces- 
sary to  examine  his  description  minutely.  He  has 
added,  however,  two  valuable  articles,  for  which 
he  was  indebted  to  more  recent  discoveries.  The 
one  is  the  account  of  the  new  course  of  navigation 
from  the  Arabian  Gulf  to  the  coast  of  Malabar, 
the  nature  and  importance  of  which  I  have  already 
explained.  The  other  is  a  description  of  the  Island 
of  Taprobana,  which  I  shall  consider  particularly, 
after  inquiring  into  what  Ptolemy  has  contributed 
towards  our  knowledge  of  the  ancient  state  of  the 
Indian  continent. 

Though  Ptolemy,  who  published  his  works  about 
fourscore  years  after  Pliny,  seems  to  have  been 
distinguished  for  his  persevering  industry,  and  ta- 
lent for  arrangement,  rather  than  for  an  inventive 
genius ;  geography  has  been  more  indebted  to  him 
for  its  improvement,  than  to  any  other  philosopher. 
Fortunately  for  that  science,  in  forming  his  general 


SECT.  n.       CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.        69 

system  of  geography,  he  adopted  the  ideas,  and 
imitated  the  practice  of  Hipparchus,  who  lived  near 
four  hundred  years  before  his  time.  That  great 
philosopher  was  the  first  who  attempted  to  make 
a  catalogue  of  the  stars.  In  order  to  ascertain 
their  position  in  the  heavens  with  accuracy,  he 
measured  their  distance  from  certain  circles  of  the 
sphere,  computing  it  by  degrees,  either  from  east 
to  west,  or  from  north  to  south.  The  former  was 
denominated  the  longitude  of  the  star,  the  latter 
its  latitude.  This  mode  he  found  to  be  of  such 
utility  in  his  astronomical  researches,  that  he  appli- 
ed it  with  no  less  happy  effect  to  geography ;  and 
it  is  a  circumstance  worthy  of  notice,  that  it  was 
by  observing  and  describing  the  heavens,  men  were 
first  taught  to  measure  and  delineate  the  earth  with 
exactness.  This  method  of  fixing  the  position  of 
places,  invented  by  Hipparchus,  though  known  to 
the  geographers  between  his  time  and  that  of  Ptole- 
my, and  mentioned  both  by  Strabo*  and  by  Pliny,  f 
was  not  employed  by  any  of  them.  Of  this  ne- 
glect the  most  probable  account  seems  to  be,  that 
as  none  of  them  were  astronomers,  they  did  not 
fully  comprehend  ajl  the  advantages  geography 
might  derive  from  this  invention. f  These  Ptole- 
my, who  had  devoted  a  long  life  to  the  improve- 
ment of  astronomy,  theoretical  as  well  as  practical, 
perfectly  discerned,  and,  as  in  both  Hipparchus  was 

*  Lib.  ii.  f  Nat.  Hist.  lib.  ii.  c.  12.  26.  7O. 

t  See  NOTE  XXVII. 


ro          AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION      SECT.  ir. 

his  guide,  he,  in  his  famous  treatise  on  geography, 
described  the  different  parts  of  the  earth  according 
to  their  longitude  and  latitude.  Geography  was  thus 
established  upon  its  proper  principles,  and  intimate- 
ly connected  with  astronomical  observations  and 
mathematical  science.  This  work  of  Ptolemy  soon 
rose  high  in  estimation  among  the  ancients.* 
During  the  middle  ages,  both  in  Arabia  and  in 
Europe,  the  decisions  of  Ptolemy,  in  every  thing 
relative  to  geography,  were  submitted  to  with  an 
assent  as  implicit  as  was  yielded  to  those  of  Aristotle 
in  all  other  departments  of  science.  On  the  revival 
of  a  more  liberal  spirit  of  inquiry  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  the  merit  of  Ptolemy's  improvements  in 
geography  was  examined  and  recognized  ;  that  sci- 
entific language  which  he  first  rendered  general,  con- 
tinues to  be  used,  and  the  position  of  places  is 
still  ascertained  in  the  same  distinct  and  compendi- 
ous manner,  by  specifying  their  longitude  and  lati- 
tude. 

Not  satisfied  with  adopting  the  general  principles 
of  Hipparchus,  Ptolemy  emulated  him  in  the  ap- 
plication of  them ;  and,  as  that  philosopher  had 
arranged  all  the  constellations,  he  ventured  upon 
what  was  no  less  arduous,  to  survey  all  the  re- 
gions of  the  earth  which  were  then  known,  and 
with  minute  and  bold  decision  he  fixed  the  lon- 
gitude and  latitude  of  the  most  remarkable  places 
in  each  of  them.  All  his  determinations,  however, 

*  Set  NOTE  XXVIII, 


SECT.  n.    CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.          71 

are  not  to  be  considered  as  the  result  of  actual 
observation,  nor  did  Ptolemy  publish  them  as  such. 
Astronomical  science  was  confined,  at  that  time, 
to  a  few  countries.  A  considerable  part  of  the  globe 
was  little  visited,  and  imperfectly  described.  The 
position  of  a  small  number  of  places  only  had  been 
fixed  with  any  degree  of  accuracy.  Ptolemy  was 
therefore  obliged  to  consult  the  itineraries  and  sur- 
veys of  the  Roman  empire,  which  the  political  wis- 
dom of  that  great  state  had  completed  with  immense 
labour  and  expense.*  Beyond  the  precincts  of  the 
empire,  he  had  nothing  on  which  he  could  rely, 
but  the  journals  and  reports  of  travellers.  Upon 
these  all  his  conclusions  were  founded ;  and  as  he 
resided  in  Alexandria  at  a  time  when  the  trade  from 
that  city  to  India  was  carried  on  to  its  utmost  ex- 
tent, this  situation  might  have  been  expected  to  af- 
ford him  the  means  of  procuring  ample  information, 
concerning  it.  But  either  from  the  imperfect  man- 
ner in  which  that  country  was  explored  in  his  time, 
or  from  his  placing  too  much  confidence  in  the  re, 
ports  of  persons  who  had  visited  it  with  little  atten- 
tion or  discernment,!  his  general  delineation  of  the 
form  of  the  Indian  continent  is  the  most  erroneous 
that  has  been  transmitted  to  us  from  antiquity. 
By  an  astonishing  mistake,  he  has  made  the  pen- 
insula of  India  stretch  from  the  Sinus  Barygazenus^ 
or  Gulf  of  Cambay,  from  west  to  east,  instead 
of  extending,  according  to  its  real  direction,  from 

*  Sec  NOTE  XXIX,  t  Geogr.  lib.  i,  c.  1^ 


72          AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION    SECT,  u.- 

north  to  south.*  This  error  will  appear  the  more 
unaccountable  when  we  recollect  that  Megasthenes 
had  published  a  measurement  of  the  Indian  penin- 
sula, which  approaches  near  to  its  true  dimensions ; 
and  that  this  had  been  adopted,  with  some  varia- 
tions, by  Eratosthenes,  Strabo,  Diodorus  Siculus, 
and  Pliny,  who  wrote  prior  to  the  age  of  Ptolemy. t 
Although  Ptolemy  was  led  to  form  such  an  er- 
roneous opinion  concerning  the  general  dimensions 
of  the  Indian  continent,  his  information  with  res- 
pect to  the  country  in  detail,  and  the  situation  of 
particular  places,  was  more  accurate  ;  and  he  is  the 
first  author  possessed  of  such  knowledge  as  enabled 
him  to  trace  the  sea- coast,  to  mention  the  most  no- 
ted places  situated  upon  it,  and  to  specify  the  longi- 
tude and  latitude  of  each  from  Cape  Comorin  east- 
ward, to  the  utmost  boundary  of  ancient  navigation. 
With  regard  to  some  districts,  particularly  along  the 
east  side  of  the  peninsula  as  far  as  the  mouth  of  the 
Ganges,  the  accounts  which  he  had  received  seem 
to  have  been  so  far  exact,  as  to  correspond  more 
nearly  perhaps  with  the  actual  state  of  the  country, 
than  the  descriptions  which  he  gives  of  any  other 
part  of  India.  M.  D'Anville,  with  his  usual  indus- 
try and  discernment,  has  considered  the  principal 
stations  as  they  are  fixed  by  him,  and  finds  that 

*  See  NOTE  XXX. 

|  Strabo,  lib.  xv.  1010.  B.  Arrian,  Hist.  Indie,  c.  3.  4 
Diod.  Sicul.  lib.  ii.  148.  PHn.  Nat.  Hist.  lib.  vi.  c.  21. 
See  NOTE  XXXI. 


SECT.  ii.      CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.          73 

they  correspond  to  Kilkare,  Negapatam,  the  mouth 
of  the  river  Cauveri,  Masulipatam,  Point  Gorde- 
ware,  &c.  It  is  foreign  to  the  object  of  this  Dis- 
quisition to  enter  into  such  a  minute  detail ;  but  in 
several  instances  we  may  observe,  that  not  only  the- 
conformity  of  position,  but  the  similarity  of  ancient 
and  modern  names,  is  very  striking.  The  great 
river  Cauveri,  is  by  Ptolemy  named  Chaberis ;  Ar- 
cot,  in  the  interior  country,  is  Arcati  Regia ;  and 
probably  the  whole  coast  has  received  its  present 
name  of  Coromandel  from  Sor  Mandulam>  or  the 
kingdom  of  Sorae,  which  is  situated  upon  it.* 

In  the  course  of  one  hundred  and  thirty-six  years, 
which  elapsed  from  the  death  of  Strabo  to  that  of 
Ptolemy,  the  commercial  intercourse  with  India 
was  greatly  extended  ;  the  latter  geographer  had 
acquired  such  an  accession  of  new  information  con- 
cerning the  Ganges,  that  he  mentions  the  names 
of  six  different  mouths  of  that  river,  and  describes 
their  positions.  His  delineation,  however,  of  that 
part  of  India  which  lies  beyond  the  Ganges,  is  not 
less  erroneous  in  its  general  form,  than  that  which 
he  gave  of  the  peninsula,  and  bears  as  little  resem- 
blance to  the  actual  position  of  those  countries.  He 
ventures  nevertheless,  upon  a  survey  of  them,  simi- 
lar to  that  which  he  had  made  of  the  other  great 
division  of  India,  which  I  have  already  examined. 


*  Ptolem.   Geogr.   lib.   vii.  c.    1.     D'Anville,    Ahtiq.   de 
127,  &c. 

I: 


74  AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION    SECT.  11. 

He  mentions  the  places  of  note  along  the  coast, 
some  of  which  he  distinguishes  as   emporia ;  but 
whether  that  name  was  given  to  them  on  account 
of  their  being  staples  of  trade  to  the  natives,   in 
their  traffic  carried  on  from  one  district  of  India  to 
another,  or  whether  they  were  ports,  to  which  ves- 
sels from  the  Arabian  Gulf  resorted  directly,  is  not 
specified.     The  latter  I  should  think  to  be  the  idea 
which    Ptolemy   means  to  convey ;   but  those  re- 
gions of  India  were  so  remote,  and,  from  the  timid 
and  slow  course  of  ancient  navigation,  were  pro- 
bably so  little  frequented,  that  his  information  con- 
cerning them  is  extremely  defective,  and  his  des- 
criptions more  obscure,  more  inaccurate,  and  less 
conformable  to  the  real  state  of  the  country,  than 
in  any  part  of  his  geography.     That  peninsula  to 
which  he  gives  the  name  of  the  Golden  Chersone- 
sus,  he  delineates  as  if  it  stretched  directly  from 
north   to  south,   and  fixes  the  latitude  of  Sabana 
Emporium,   its  southern  extremity,  three  degrees 
beyond  the  line.     To  the  east  of  this  peninsula  he 
places  what  he  calls  the  Great  Bay,  and  in  the  most 
remote  part  of  it  the  station  of  Catigara,  the  utmost 
boundary  of  navigation  in  ancient  times,  to  which 
he  assigns  no  less  than  eight  degrees  and  a  half  of 
southern   latitude.      Beyond   this   he    declares   the 
earth  to  be  altogether  unknown,  and  asserts  that 
the  land  turns  thence  to  the  westward,  and  stretches 
in  that  direction   until  it  joins  the  promontory  of 
Prassum  in  Ethiopia,  which,  according  to  his  idea. 


SECT.  ii.    CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA,  fs 

terminated  the  continent  of  Africa  to  the  south.* 
In  consequence  of  this  error,  no  less  unaccountable 
than  enormous,  he  must  have  believed  the  Ery- 
thraean Sea,  in  its  whole  extent  from  the  coast  of  Af- 
rica to  that  of  Cambodia,  to  be  a  vast  -basin,  without 
any  communication  with  the  ocean,  f 

Out  of  the  confusion  of  those  wild  ideas,  in 
which  the  accounts  of  ignorant  or  fabulous  travel- 
lers have  involved  the  geography  of  Ptolemy,  M. 
D'Anville  has  attempted  to  bring  order;  and,  with 
much  ingenuity,  he  has  formed  opinions  with  res^ 
pect  to  some  capital  positions,  which  have  the  ap- 
pearance of  being  well  founded.  The  peninsula  of 
Malacca  is,  according  to  him,  the  Golden  Chersone- 
sus  of  Ptolemy ;  but  instead  of  the  direction  which 
he  has  given  it,  we  know  that  it  bends  some  degrees 
towards  the  east,  and  that  Cape  de  Romania,  its  south- 
ern extremity,  is  more  than  a  degree  to  the  north  of 
the  line.  The  Gulf  of  Siam  he  considers  as  the  Great 
Bay  of  Ptolemy,  but  the  position  on  the  east  side 
of  that  Bay,  corresponding  to  Catigara,  is  actually 
as  many  degrees  to  the  north  of  the  Equator,  as 
he  supposed  it  to  be  the  south  of  it.  Beyond  this 
he  mentions  an  inland  city,  to  which  he  gives  the 
name  of  Thinae  or  Sinse  Metropolis.  The  longi- 
tude which  he  assigns  to  it,  is  one  hundred  and 
eighty  degrees  from  his  first  meridian  in  the  For- 

*  Ptolem.  Geogr.  lib.  vii.  c.  3.  5?  D'AnvUle,  Aitfr  cb 
rinde,  187. 

t  See  NOTE  XXXIL 


/6          AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION      SSCT.  u. 

tunate  island,  and  is  the  utmost  point  towards  the 
East  to  wrftelj  the  ancients  had  advanced  by  sea, 
Its  latitude  he  calculates  to  be  three  degrees  south 
of  the  line.  If,  with  M.  D'Anville,  we  conclude 
the  situation  of  Sin-hoa,  in  the  western  part  of  the 
kingdom  of  Cochin- China,  to  be  the  same  with  Si- 
nae  Metropolis,  Ptolemy  has  erred  in  fixing  its  posi- 
tion no  less  than  fifty  degrees  of  longitude,  and  twen- 
ty degress  of  latitude."^ 

These  errors  of  Ptolemy  concerning  the  remote 
parts  of  Asia,  have  been  rendered  more  conspicu- 
ous by  a  mistaken  opinion  of  modern  times  ingrafted 
upon  them.  Sinae,  the  most  distant  station  men- 
tioned in  his  geography,  has  such  a  nea  resem- 
blance in  sound  to  China,  the  name  by  which  the 
greatest  and  most  civilized  empire  in  the  East  is 
known  to  Europeans,  that,  upon  their  first  acquaint- 
ance with  it,  they  hastily  concluded  them  to  be 
the  same  ;  and  of  consequence  it  was  supposed  that 
China  wras  known  to  the  ancients,  though  no  point 
seems  to  be  more  ascertained,  than  that  they  never 
advanced  by  sea  beyond  that  boundary  which  I 
have  allotted  to  their  navigation. 

Having  thus  traced  the  discoveries  of  India  which 
the  ancients  made  by   sea,    I  shall  next   examine 


*  Ptolem.  Geogr.  lib.  vii.  c.  3.  D'Anville,  Limites  du 
Monde  conudes  Anciens  au-dela  du  Gange.  Mem.  de  Li- 
terat.  xxxii.  604,  &c.  Ant.  de  1'Jnde,  supplem.  i.  161,  &£. 
See  NOTE  XXXIIfc 


SECT.  ji.     CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.  77 

what  additional  knowledge  of  that  country  they  ac- 
quired from  their  progress  by  land.  It  appears  (as 
I  have  formerly  related)  that  there  was  a  trade  carri- 
ed on  early  with  India  through  the  provinces  that 
stretch  along  its  northern  frontier.  Its  various  pro- 
ductions and  manufactures  were  transported  by  land- 
carriage  into  the  interior  parts  of  the  Persian  do- 
minions, or  were  conveyed,  by  means  of  the  navi- 
gable rivers  which  flow  through  the  Upper  Asia, 
to  the  Caspian  Sea,  and  from  that  to  the  Euxine. 
While  the  successors  of  Seleucus  retained  the  do- 
minion of  the  East,  this  continued  to  be  the  mode 
of  supplying  their  subjects  with  the  commodities 
of  India.  When  the  Romans  had  extended  their 
conquests  so  far  that  the  Euphrates  was  the  eastern 
limit  of  their  empire,  they  found  this  trade  still  es- 
tablished, and  as  it  opened  to  them  a  new  communi- 
cation with  the  East,  by  means  of  which  they  re- 
ceived an  additional  supply  of  luxuries  for  which 
they  had  acquired  the  highest  relish,  it  became  an 
object  of  their  policy  to  protect  and  encourage  it. 
As  the  progress  of  the  caravans  or  companies  of 
merchants,  which  travelled  towards  the  countries 
whence  they  received  the  most  valuable  manufac- 
tures, particularly  those  of  silk,  was  often  interrupt- 
ed, and  rendered  dangerous  by  the  Parthians,  who 
had  acquired  possession  of  all  the  provinces  which 
extend  from  the  Caspian  Sea  to  that  part  of  Scythia 
or  Tartary  which  borders  on  China,  the  Romans 
endeavoured  to  render  this  intercourse  more  secure 
by  a  negotiation  with  one  of  the  monarchs  of  that 


fa  AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION   SECT.  u. 

great  empire.  Of  this  singular  transaction  there  is, 
indeed,  no  vestige  in  the  Greek  and  Roman  writers ; 
our  knowledge  of  it  is  derived  entirely  from  the 
Chinese  historians,  by  whom  we  are  informed  that 
Antoun  (the  emperor  Marcus  Antoninus)  the  king 
of  the  people  of  the  Western  Ocean,  sent  an  em- 
bassy with  this  view  to  Oun-ti,  who  reigned  over 
China  in  the  hundred  and  sixty. sixth  year  of  the 
Christian  era.*  What  wras  the  success  of  this  at- 
tempt is  not  known,  nor  can  we  say  whether  it  faci- 
litated such  an  intercourse  between  these  two  remote 
nations  as  contributed  towards  the  supply  of  their 
mutual  wants.  The  design  certainly  was  not  un- 
worthy of  the  enlightened  emperor  of  Rome  to  whorm 
it  is  ascribed. 

It  is  evident,  however  that  in  prosecuting  this 
trade  with  China,  a  considerable  part  of  the  exten- 
sive countries  to  the  East  of  the  Caspian  Sea  must 
have  been  traversed ;  and  though  the  chief  induce- 
ment to  undertake  those  distant  journies  wras  gain, 
yet,  in  the  course  of  ages,  there  must  have  mingled 
among  the  adventurers,  persons  of  curiosity  and 
abilities,  who  could  turn  their  attention  from  com- 
mercial objects  to  those  of  more  general  concern. 
From  them  such  information  was  procured,  and 
subjected  to  scientific  discussion,  as  enabled  Ptole- 
my to  give  a  description  of  those  inland  and  remote 

*  Memoire  sur  les  Liaisons  et  le  Commerce  des  RomainSj 
avec  les  Tartares  et  les  Chinois,  par.  M.  de  Gy-ignes.  Mem. 
de  Literal,  xxxii.  355?  &c. 


sfecT.  it.     CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.  79 

regions  of  Asia,*  fully  as  accurate  as  that  of  several 
countries,  of  which,  from  their  vicinity,  he  may 
have  been  supposed  to  have  received  more  distinct 
accounts.  The  farthest  point  towards  the  East,  to 
which  his  knowledge  of  this  part  of  Asia  extended, 
is  Sera  Metropolis,  which  from  various  circum- 
stances appears  to  have  been  in  the  same  situation 
with  Kant-cheou,  a  city  of  some  note  in  Chen-si, 
the  most  westerly  province  of  the  Chinese  empire. 
This  he  places  in  the  longitude  of  one  hundred  and 
seventy-seven  degrees  fifteen  minutes,  near  three 
degrees  to  the  west  of  Sinae  Metropolis,  which  he 
had  described  as  the  utmost  limit  of  Asia  discovered 
by  sea.  Nor  was  Ptolemy's  knowledge  of  this  dis- 
trict of  Asia  confined  only  to  that  part  of  it  through 
which  the  caravans  may  be  supposed  to  have  pro- 
ceeded directly  in  their  route  eastward ;  he  had  re- 
ceived likewise  some  general  information  concern- 
ing various  nations  towards  the  north,  which,  ac- 
cording to  the  position  that  he  gives  them,  occu- 
pied parts  of  the  great  plain  of  Tartary,  extending 
considerably  beyond  Lassa,  the  capital  of  Thibet, 
and  the  residence  of  the  Dalai  Lama. 

The  latitudes  of  several  places  in  this  part  of 
Asia  are  fixed  by  Ptolemy  with  such  uncommon  pre- 
cision, that  he  can  hardly  doubt  of  their  having  been 
ascertained  by  actual  observation.  Out  of  many 
instances  of  this,  I  shall  select  three,  of  places  situat- 
ed in  very  different  parts  of  the  country  under  re- 

*  Lib.  vi,  c.  li— -18, 


8tf  AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION     SECT.  H 

view.  The  latitude  of  Nagara,  on  the  river  Co- 
phenes  (the  modern  Attock)  is,  according  to  Ptole- 
my, thirty-two  degrees  and  thirty  minutes,  which 
coincides  precisely  with  the  observation  of  an  Eas- 
tern geographer  quoted  by  M.  D'Anville.*  The 
latitude  of  Maracanda,  or  Samarcand,  as  fixed  by 
him,  is  thirty-nine  degrees  fifteen  minutes.  Accord- 
ing to  the  Astronomical  Tables  of  Ulug  Beg,  the 
grandson  of  Timur,  whose  royal  residence  was  in 
that  city,  it  is  thirty- nine  degrees  thirty- seven  mi- 
nutes, f  The  latitude  of  Sera  Metropolis,  in  Ptole- 
my, is  thirty-eight  degrees  fifteen  minutes ;  that  of 
Kant-cheou,  as  determined  by  the  Jesuit  Missionaries, 
is  thirty -nine  degrees.  I  have  enumerated  these 
striking  examples  of  the  coincidence  of  his  calcu- 
lations with  those  established  by  modern  observa- 
tions, for  two  reasons :  One,  because  they  clearly 
prove  that  these  remote  parts  of  Asia  had  been  ex- 
amined with  some  considerable  degree  of  attention  ; 
the  other  because  I  feel  great  satisfaction,  after  hav- 
ing been  obliged  to  mention  several  errors  and  de- 
fects in  Ptolemy's  geography,  in  rendering  justice 
to  a  philosopher,  who  has  contributed  so  much  to- 
wards the  improvement  of  that  science.  The  facts 
which  I  have  produced  afford  the  strongest  evidence 
of  the  extent  of  his  information,  as  well  as  the  just- 
ness of  his  conclusions  concerning  countries  with 
which,  from  their  remote  situation,  we  might  have 
supposed  him  to  be  least  acquainted. 

*  Eclaircissements,  &c.     English  Translation,  p.   10. 
f  Tab.  Geogr.  ap.  Hudson.  Geogr.  Minores,  Ui.   145. 


SECT.  n.        CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.  81 

Hitherto    I  have   confined    my   researches  con- 
cerning the  knowledge  which  the  ancients  had   of 
India,  to  the  continent ;   I  return  now  to  consider 
the  discoveries  which  they  had  made,  of  the  islands 
situated  in  various  parts  of  the  ocean  with    which 
it  is  surrounded,  and   begin  as  I  proposed,  with 
Taprobane,  the  greatest  and  most  valuable  of  them. 
This  island  lay  so  directly  in  the  course  of  navi- 
gators who  ventured  beyond    cape  Comorin,  espe- 
cially  when,    according   to  the   ancient    mode   of 
sailing,  they  seldom  ventured  far  from  the  coast, 
that  its  position,  one  should  have  thought,  must 
have  been  determined  with  the  utmost  precision. 
There  is,  however,  hardly   any  point  in  the  geo- 
graphy of  the   ancients  more  undecided  and  un* 
certain.     Prior  to  the  age  of  Alexander  the  Great, 
the  name  of  Taprobane  was   unknown  in  Europe, 
in  consequence  of  the  active  curiosity  with  which 
he  explored    every   country   that   he   subdued   or 
visited,   some  information  concerning  it   seems  to 
have  been  obtained.     From  his  time  almost  every 
writer    on  geography  has  mentioned  it,   but  their 
accounts  of  it   are  so  various,  and  often  so  con- 
tradictory, that  we   can   scarcely  believe  them  to 
be  describing  the  same  island.     Strabo,  the  earliest 
writer  now  extant,  from  whom  we  have  any  par- 
ticular  account  of  it,  affirms  that  it  was  as  large  as 
Britain,  and  situated  at  the  distance  of  seven  days, 
according  to  some  reports,  and  according  to  other, 
of  twenty  days'  sailing  from  the  southern  extremity 
of  the  Indian  peninsula;   from  which,  contrary  to 
wjhat  is  known  to  be  its  real  position,  he  describes 

M 


82  AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION      SECT.  u. 

it  as  stretching  towards  the  west  above   five   hun- 
dred stadia.*     Pomponious  Mela,  the  author  next 
in  order  of  time,    is  uncertain  whether  he  should 
consider  Taprobane  as  an  island,  or  as  the  begin- 
ning of  another  world  ;   but  as  no  person,  he  says, 
had  ever  sailed  round  it,  he  seems  to  incline  to- 
wards  the   latter   opinion.!     Pliny  gives    a   more 
ample  description  of  Taprobane,  which,  instead  of 
bringing    any  accession   of  light,   involves    every 
thing  relating  to  it  in  additional  obscurity.     After 
enumerating  the  various  and  discordant  opinions 
of  the  Greek  writers,  he  informs  us,  that  ambas- 
sadors were  sent  by  a  king  of  that  island  to  the 
emperor  Claudius  from  whom  the  Romans  learned 
several  things  concerning  it,  which  were  formerly 
unknown,  particularly  that   there  were  five   hun- 
dred towns  in  the  island,  and  that  in  the  centre  of 
it  there  was  a  lake  three  hundred  and  seventy-five 
miles  in  circumference.     These  ambassadors  were 
astonished  at  the  sight  of  the  Great  Bear  and  the 
Pleiades,  being  constellations  which  did  not  appear 
in  their  sky ;   and  were   still  more  amazed  when 
they  beheld  their  shadows  point  towards  the  north, 
and  the  sun  rise  on  their  left  hand,  and  set  on  their 
right.     They  affirmed  too,   that   in  their   country 
the  moon  was  never  seen  until  the  eighth  day  after 
the  change,  and  continued  to  be  visible  only  to  the 
sixteenth.  J     It  is  surprising  to  find  an  author  so 
intelligent  as  Pliny  relating  all  these  circumstances 

*  Strabo,lib.  ii.    124.  B.  180.  B.  192.  A.  lib.  xv.  1012.  B. 

*  De  Situ  Orbis,  lib,  iii.  c.  7.  J  Nat.  Hist.  lib.  vi.  c.  22, 


SECT.  ii.       CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.  S3 

without  animadversion,  and  particularly  that  he  does 
not  take  notice,  that  what  the  ambassadors  reported 
concerning  the  appearance  of  the  moon ,  could  not 
take  place  in  any  region  of  the  earth. 

Ptolemy,  though  so  near  to  the  age  of  Pliny, 
seems  to  have  been  altogether  unacquainted  with 
his  description  of  Taprobane,  or  with  the  embassy 
to  the  emperor  Claudius.  He  places  that  island 
opposite  to  cape  Comorin,  at  no  great  distance 
from  the  continent,  and  delineates  it  as  stretching 
from  north  to  south  no  less  than  fifteen  degrees, 
two  of  which  he  supposes  to  be  south  of  the 
equator  ;  and  if  his  representation  of  its  dimensions 
had  been  just,  it  was  well  entitled  from  its  magni- 
tude to  be  compared  with  Britain.5*  Agathemerus, 
who  wrote  after  Ptolemy,  and  was  well  acquainted 
with  his  geography,  considers  Taprobane  as  the 
largest  of  all  islands,  and  assigns  to  Britain  only  the 
second  place. f 

From  this  diversity  of  the  descriptions  given 
by  ancient  writers,  it  is  not  surprising  that  the 
moderns  should  have  entertained  very  different  sen- 
timents with  respect  to  the  island  in  the  Indian 
ocean  which  was  to  be  considered  as  the  same 
with  the  Taprobane  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans, 
As  both  Pliny  and  Ptolemy  describe  it  as  lying  in 
part  to  the  south  of  the  equator,  some  learned  men 


*  Ptol.  lib.  vii.  c.  4.     D'Anville,  Ant.   de  l'Incle,p.  142, 
t  Lib.  ii.  c.  8.  apud  Hudson.     Geogr.  Minor,  vol.  ii. 


34          AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION.       SECT.  u. 

maintain  Sumatra  to  be  the  island  which  corres^ 
ponds  to  this  description.  But  the  great  distance 
of  Sumatra  from  the  peninsula  of  India  does  not  ac- 
cord with  any  account  which  the  Greek  or  Roman 
writers  have  given  of  the  situation  of  Taprobane, 
and  we  have  no  evidence  that  the  navigation  of  the 
ancients  ever  extended  so  far  as  Sumatra.  The  opi- 
nion more  generally  received  is,  that  the  Tapro- 
bane of  the  ancients  is  the  island  of  Ceylon ;  and 
not  only  its  vicinity  to  the  continent  of  India,  but 
the  general  form  of  the  island,  as  delineated  by 
Ptolemy,  as  well  as  the  position  of  several  places  in 
it,  mentioned  by  him,  establish  this  opinion,  (not- 
withstanding some  extraordinary  mistakes,  of  which 
I  shall  afterwards  take  notice)  with  a  great  degree 
of  certainty. 

The  other  islands  to  the  east  of  Taprobane,  men- 
tioned  by  Ptolemy,  might  be  shewn  (if  such  a  de- 
tail were  necessary)  to  be  the  Andaman  and  Nicobar 
islands  in  the  gulf  of  Bengal. 

After  this  long,  and,  I  am  afraid,  tedious  in- 
vestigation of  the  progress  made  by  the  ancients, 
in  exploring  the  different  parts  of  India,  and  after 
tracing  them  as  far  as  they  advanced  towards  the 
East  either  by  sea  or  land,  I  shall  offer  some  gene- 
ral remarks  concerning  the  mode  in  which  their  dis- 
coveries were  conducted,  and  the  degree  of  con- 
fidence with  which  we  may  rely  on  the  accounts 
of  them,  which  could  not  have  been  offered  with  the 
same  advantage  until  this  investigation  was  finished. 


SECT.  ii.          CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.          8s 

The  art  of  delineating  maps,  exhibiting  either 
the  figure  of  the  whole  earth,  as  far  as  it  had  been 
explored,  or  that  of  particular  countries,  was 
known  to  the  ancients;  and  without  the  use  of 
them  to  assist  the  imagination,  it  was  impossible  to 
have  formed  a  distinct  idea  either  of  the  one  or 
of  the  other.  Some  of  these  maps  are  mentioned 
by  Herodotus  and  other  early  Greek  writers.  But 
no  maps  prior  to  those  which  were  formed  in  order 
to  illustrate  the  geography  of  Ptolemy,  have  reach- 
ed our  times,  in  consequence  of  which  it  is  very 
difficult  to  conceive  what  was  the  relative  situation 
of  the  different  places  mentioned  by  the  ancient 
geographers,  unless  when  it  is  precisely  ascer- 
tained by  measurement.*  As  soon,  however,  as 
the  mode  of  marking  the  situation  of  each  place  by 
specifying  its  longitude  and  latitude  was  introduced, 
and  came  to  be  generally  adopted,  every  position 
could  be  described  in  compendious  and  scientific 
terms.  But  still  the  accuracy  of  this  new  method, 
and  the  improvement  which  geography  derived 
from  it,  depends  upon  the  mode  in  which  the 
ancients  estimated  the  latitude  and  longitude  of 
places. 

Though  the  ancients  proceeded  in  determining 
the  latitude  and  longitude  of  places  upon  the  same 
principles  with  the  moderns,  yet  it  was  by  means 
of  instruments  very  inferior  in  their  construction 
to  those  now  used,  and  without  the  same  minute 

*  See  NOTE  XXXIV 


86  AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION      SECT,  ir. 

attention  to  every  circumstance  that  may  affect  the 
accuracy  of  an  observation,  an  attention  of  which 
long  experience  only  can  demonstrate  the  necessity. 
In  order  to  ascertain  the  latitude  of  any  place,  the 
ancients  observed  the  meridian  altitude  of  the  sun, 
either  by  means  of  the  shadow  of  a  perpendicular 
gnomon,  or  by  means  of  an  astrolabe,  from  which 
it  was  easy  to  compute  how  many  degrees  and 
minutes  the  place  of  observation  was  distant  from 
the  equator.  When  neither  of  these  methods  could 
be  employed,  they  inferred  the  latitude  of  any  place 
from  the  best  accounts  which  they  could  procure 
of  the  length  of  its  longest  day. 

With  respect  to  determining  the  longitude  of 
any  place,  they  were  much  more  at  a  loss,  as  there 
was  only  one  set  of  celestial  phenomena  to  which 
they  could  have  recourse.  These  were  the  eclipses 
of  the  moon  ('for  those  of  the  sun  were  not  then 
so  well  understood  as  to  be  subservient  to  the  pur- 
poses of  geography)  :  the  difference  between  the 
time  at  which  an  eclipse  was  observed  to  begin  or 
to  end  at  two  different  places,  gave  immediately 
the  difference  between  the  meridians  of  those  places. 
But  the  difficulty  of  making  those  observations 
with  accuracy,  and  the  impossibility  of  repeating 
them  often,  rendered  them  of  so  little  use  in  geo- 
graphy, that  the  ancients  in  determining  longitudes 
were  obliged,  for  the  most  part,  to  have  recourse 
to  actual  surveys,  or  to  the  vague  information  which 


SECT.  ii.    CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.  87 

was  to  be  obtained  from  the  reckonings  of  sailors, 
or  the  itineraries  of  travellers. 

But  though  the  ancients,  by  means  of  the 
operations  which  I  have  mentioned,  could  de- 
termine the  position  of  places  with  a  considerable 
degree  of  accuracy  at  land,  it  is  very  uncertain 
whether  or  not  they  had  any  proper  mode  of  de- 
termining this  at  sea.  The  navigators  of  antiquity 
seem  rarely  to  have  had  recourse  to  astronomical 
observation.  They  had  no  instruments  suited  to  a 
moveable  and  unsteady  observatory ;  and  though 
by  their  practice  of  landing  frequently,  they  might 
in  some  measure,  have  supplied  that  defect,  yet  no 
ancient  author,  as  far  as  I  know,  has  given  an 
account  of  any  astronomical  observation  made  by 
them  during  the  course  of  their  voyages.  It  seems 
to  be  evident  from  Ptolemy,  who  employs  some 
chapters  in  shewing  how  geography  may  be  im- 
proved and  its  errors  may  be  rectified,  from  the 
reports  of  navigators,*  that  all  their  calculations 
were  founded  solely  upon  reckoning,  and  were 
not  the  result  of  observation.  Even  after  all  the 
improvements  which  the  moderns  have  made  in 
the  science  of  navigation,  this  mode  of  computing 
by  reckoning  is  known  to  be  so  loose  and  uncer- 
tain, that,  from  it  alone,  no  conclusion  can  be  de- 
duced with  any  great  degree  of  precision.  Among 
the  ancients,  this  inaccuracy  must  have  been  greatly 
augmented,  as  they  were  accustomed  in  their  voy- 

*Lib,i.  c.  7— 14. 


S§  AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION     SECT.  n. 

ages,  instead  of  steering  a  direct  course  which  might 
have  been  more  easily  measured,  to  a  circuitous 
navigation  along  the  coast ;  and  were  unacquainted 
with  the  compass,  or  any  other  instrument  by  which 
its  bearings  might  have  been  ascertained.  We 
find,  accordingly,  the  position  of  many  places 
which  we  may  suppose  to  have  been  determined 
at  sea,  fixed  with  little  exactness.  When,  in  con- 
sequence of  an  active  trade,  the  ports  of  any  coun- 
try were  much  frequented,  the  reckonings  of  dif- 
ferent navigators  may  have  served  in  some  measure 
to  correct  each  other,  and  may  have  enabled  geo- 
graphers to  form  their  conclusions  with  a  nearer 
approximation  to  truth.  But  in  remote  countries, 
which  have  neither  been  the  seat  of  military  opera- 
tions, nor  explored  by  caravans  travelling  fre- 
quently through  them,  every  thing  is  more  vague 
and  undefined,  and  the  resemblance  between  the 
ancient  descriptions  of  them,  and  their  actual 
figure,  is  often  so  faint  that  it  can  hardly  be  traced. 
The  latitude  of  places  too,  as  might  be.  expected, 
was  in  general  much  more  accurately  known  by  the 
ancients  than  their  longitude.  The  observations 
by  which  the  former  was  determined  are  simple, 
made  with  ease,  and  are  not  liable  to  much  error. 
The  other  cannot  be  ascertained  precisely,  without 
more  complex  operations,  and  the  use  of  instru- 
ments much  more  perfect  than  any  that  the  an- 
cients seem  to  have  possessed.*  Among  the  vast 
Dumber  of  places,  the  position  of  which  is  fixed 

*  See  NOTE  XXXV 


SECT.  ii.      CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.  89 

by  Ptolemy,  I  know  not  if  he  approaches  as  near  to 
truth  in  the  longitude  of  any  one,  as  he  has  done  in 
fixing  the  latitude  of  the  three  cities  which  I  for- 
merly  mentioned  as  a  striking,  though  not  singular 
instance  of  his  exactness. 

These  observations  induce  me  to  adhere  to  an 
opinion,  which  I  proposed  in  another  place,*  that 
the  Greeks  and  Romans,  in  their  commercial  inter- 
course with  India,  were  seldom  led,  either  by  curio- 
sity, or  the  love  of  gain,  to  visit  the  more  eastern 
parts  of  it.  A  variety  of  particulars  occur  to  con- 
firm this  opinion.  Though  Ptolemy  bestows  the 
appellation  of  Emporia  on  several  places  situated 
on  the  coast,  which  stretches  from  the  eastern 
mouth  of  the  Ganges  to  the  extremity  of  the 
Golden  Chersonesus,  it  is  uncertain,  whether  from 
his  having  given  them  this  name,  we  are  to  consider 
them  as  harbours  frequented  by  ships  from  Egypt, 
or  merely  by  vessels  of  the  countiy.  Beyond  the 
Golden  Chersonesus,  it  is  remarkable  that  he  men- 
tions one  Emporium  only,|  which  plainly  indicates 
the  intercourse  with  this  region  of  India  to  have 
been  very  inconsiderable.  Had  voyages  from  the 
Arabian  gulf  to  those  countries  of  India  been  as 
frequent  as  to  have  entitled  Ptolemy  to  specify  so 
minutely  the  longitude  and  latitude  of  the  great 
number  of  places  which  he  mentions,  he  must  in 
consequence  of  this  have  acquired  such  information 
as  would  have  prevented  several  .great  errors  into 


*  Hist,  of  Ameriea^vol.  L  p.  SO.  315.        f  Lib,  vii.  c.  2. 

N 


90  AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION       SJBCT.  n 

which  he  has  fallen.  Had  it  been  usual  to  double 
cape  Comorin,  and  to  sail  up  the  bay  of  Bengal  to 
the  mouth  of  the  Ganges,  some  of  the  ancient 
geographers  would  not  have  been  so  uncertain,  and 
others  so  widely  mistaken,  with  respect  to  the  situ- 
ation and  magnitude  of  the  island  of  Ceylon.  If 
the  merchants  of  Alexandria  had  often  visited  the 
ports  of  the  Golden  Chersonesus,  and  of  the  Great 
Bay,  Ptolemy's  descriptions  of  them  must  have 
been  rendered  more  correspondent  to  their  real  form? 
jior  could  he  have  believed  several  places  to  lie  be- 
yond the  line,  which  are  in  truth  some  degrees  on 
this  side  of  it. 

But  though  the  navigation  of  the  ancients  may 
not  have  extended  to  the  farther  India,  we  are  cer- 
tain that  various  commodities  of  that  country  were 
Imported  into  Egypt,  and  thence  were  conveyed  to 
Rome,  and  to  other  parts  of  the  empire.  From 
circumstances  which  I  have  already  enumerated, 
we  are  warranted  in  concluding,  that  these  were 
brought  in  vessels  of  the  country  to  Musiris,  and  to 
the  other  ports  on  the  Malabar  coast,  which  were, 
at  that  period,  the  staples  of  trade  with  Egypt. 
In  a  country  of  such  extent  as  India,  where  the 
natural  productions  are  various,  and  greatly  diver- 
sified by  art  and  industry,  an  active  domestic  com- 
merce, both  by  sea  and  by  land,  must  have 
early  taken  place  among  its  different  provinces. 
Of  this  we  have  some  hints  in  ancient  authors; 
and  where  the  sources  of  information  are  so  few 
and  so  scanty,  we  must  rest  satisfied  with  hints, 


SECT.  n.       CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.  9i 

Among  the  different  classes  or  casts,  into  which  the 
people  of  India  were  divided,  merchants  are  men- 
tioned as  one,*  from  which  we  may  conclude 
trade  to  have  been  one  of  the  established  occupa- 
tions of  men  in  that  country.  From  the  author  of 
the  circumnavigation  of  the  Erythraean  sea,  we 
learn  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  Coromandel  coast 
traded  in  vessels  of  their  own  with  those  of  Mala- 
bar |  that  the  interior  trade  of  Barygaza  was  consi- 
derable ;  and  that  there  was,  at  all  seasons,  a  number 
of  country  ships  to  be  found  in  the  harbour  of  Mu- 
siris.f  -By  Strabo  we  are  informed,  that  the  most 
valuable  productions  of  Taprobane  were  carried 
to  different  Emporia  of  India. £  In  this  way  the 
traders  from  Egypt  might  be  supplied  with  them, 
and  thus  could  finish  their  voyages  within  the  year, 
which  must  have  been  protracted  much  longer  if 
they  had  extended  as  far  towards  the  East  as  is  ge- 
nerally supposed. 

From  all  this  it  appears  to  be  probable,  that 
Ptolemy  derived  the  information  concerning  the 
eastern  parts  of  India,  upon  which  he  founds  his 
calculations,  not  so  much  from  any  direct  and  re- 
gular intercourse  between  Egypt  and  these  coun- 
tries,  as  from  the  reports  of  a  few  adventurers, 
whom  an  enterprising  spirit,  or  the  love  of  gain, 
prompted  to  proceed  beyond  the  usual  limits  of 
navigation. 


*  Plin.  Nat.  Hist.  lib.  vi.  c.  22, 

t  Perip.  Mar,  Erythr,  34,  30,  \  Lib,  ii,  134. 


92          AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION        SECT.  n. 

Though,  from  the  age  of  Ptolemy,  the  trade 
with  India  continued  to  be  carried  on  in  its  for- 
mer channel,  and  both  Rome,  the  ancient  capital 
of  the  empire,  and  Constantinople,  the  new  seat 
of  government,  were  supplied  with  the  precious 
commodities  of  that  country  by  the  merchants  of 
Alexandria,  yet,  until  the  reign  of  the  emperor 
Justinian,  we  have  no  new  information  concerning 
the  intercourse  with  the  East  by  sea,  or  the  pro- 
gress which  was  made  in  the  discovery  of  its  remote 
regions.  Under  Justinian,  Cosmas,  an  Egyptian 
merchant,  in  the  course  of  his  traflick,  made  some 
voyages  to  India,  whence  he  acquired  the  surname 
of  Indicopleustes  ;  but  afterwards  by  a  transition 
not  uncommon  in  that  superstitious  age,  he  re- 
nounced all  the  concerns  of  this  life,  and  assumed 
the  monastic  character.  In  the  solitude,  and  leisure 
of  a  cell,  he  composed  several  works,  one  of  which 
dignified  by  him  with  the  name  of  Christian  To- 
pography, has  reached  us.  The  main  design  of  it 
is  to  combat  the  opinion  of  those  philosophers,  who 
assert  the  earth  to  be  of  a  spherical  figure,  and  to 
prove  that  it  is  an  oblong  plane,  of  twelve  thousand 
miles  in  length  from  east  to  west,  and  of  six  thou- 
sand miles  in  breadth  from  north  to  south,  sur- 
rounded by  high  walls,  covered  by  the  firmament 
as  with  a  canopy  or  vault ;  that  the  vicissitude  of 
clay  and  night  was  occasioned  by  a  mountain  of 
prodigious  height,  situated  in  the  extremities  of 
the  north,  round  which  the  sun  moved;  that 
when  it  appeared  on  one  side  of  this  mountain, 
the  earth  was  illuminated,  when  concealed  on  the 


3ECT.  u.       CONCERNING   ANCIENT  INDIA.  93 

other  side,  the  earth  was  left  involved  in  darkness.* 
But  amidst  those  wild  reveries,  more  suited  to  the 
credulity  of  his  new  profession,  than  to  the  sound 
sense  characteristic  of  that  in  which  he  was  former- 
ly  engaged,  Cosmas  seems  to  relate  what  he  him- 
self had  observed  in  his  travels,  or  what  he  had 
learned  from  others,  with  great  simplicity  and  re* 
gard  for  truth. 

He  appears  to  have  been  well  acquainted  with 
the  west  coast  of  the  Indian  peninsula,  and  names 
several  places  situated  upon  it ;  he  describes  it  as 
the  chief  seat  of  the  pepper  trade,  and  mentions 
Male,  in  particular,  as  one  of  the  most  frequented 
ports  on  that  account,  f  From  Male,  it  is  probable 
that  this  side  of  the  continent  has  derived  its  mo- 
dern name  of  Malabar ;  and  the  cluster  of  islands 
contiguous  to  it,  that  of  the  Maldives.  From  him 
too  we  learn,  that  the  island  of  Taprobane,  which 
he  supposes  to  lie  at  an  equal  distance  from  the 
Persian  gulf  on  the  west,  and  the  country  of  the 
Sinae,  on  the  east,  had  become,  in  consequence  of 
this  commodious  situation,  a  great  staple  of  trade ; 
that  into  it  were  imported  the  silk  of  the  Sinas, 
and  the  precious  spices  of  the  eastern  countries, 
which  were  conveyed  thence  to  all  parts  of  India, 
to  Persia,  and  to  the  Arabian  gulf.  To  this  island 
he  gives  the  name  of  Sielediba,f  nearly  the  same 


*  Cosmas  ap.  Montfaucon    Collect.   Patrum,  ii.    113,  &c. 
138. 
t  Cosra.  lib.  ii,  £.  138.  lib.  xl  337,  J  Lib.  xi,  336, 


94        AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION        BECT.II. 

with  that  of  Selendib,  or  Serendib,  by  which  it  is 
still  known  all  over  the  East. 

To  Cosmas  we  are  also  indebted  for  the  first 
information  of  a  new  rival  to  the  Romans  in  trade 
having  appeared  in  the  Indian  seas.  The  Persians, 
after  having  overturned  the  empire  of  the  Parthians, 
and  re  established  the  line  of  their  ancient  mo- 
narchs,  seem  to  have  surmounted  entirely  the  aver- 
sion of  their  ancestors  to  maritime  exertion,  and 
made  early  and  vigorous  efforts  in  order  to  acquire 
a  share  in  the  lucrative  commerce  with  India. 
All  its  considerable  ports  were  frequented  by- 
traders  from  Persia,  who,  in  return  for  some  pro- 
ductions of  their  own  country  in  request  among  the 
Indians,  received  the  precious  commodities,  which 
they  conveyed  up  the  Persian  gulf,  and  by  means 
of  the  great  rivers  Euphrates  and  Tigris,  distributed 
them  through  every  province  of  their  empire.  As 
the  voyage  from  Persia  to  India  was  much  shorter 
than  that  from  Egypt,  and  attended  with  less  ex- 
pense and  danger,  the  intercourse  between  the  two 
countries  increased  rapidly.  A  circumstance  is  men- 
tioned by  Cosmas  which  is  a  striking  proof  of  this. 
In  most  of  the  cities  of  any  note  in  India  he  found 
Christian  churches  established,  in  which  the  func- 
tions of  religion  were  performed  by  priests  ordain- 
ed by  the  archbishop  of  Seleucia,  the  capital  of 
the  Persian  empire,  and  who  continued  subject  to 
his  jurisdiction.*  India  appears  to  have  been  more 

*  Cosm,  lib,  iii.  ITS. 


SECT.  n.     CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.  95 

thoroughly  explored  at  this  period,  than  it  was  in 
the  age  of  Ptolemy,  and  a  greater  number  of  strangers 
seem  to  have  been  settled  there.  It  is  remarkable 
however,  that,  according  to  the  account  of  Cosmas, 
none  of  these  strangers  were  accustomed  to  visit 
the  eastern  regions  of  Asia,  but  rested  satisfied  with 
receiving  their  silk,  their  spices,  and  other  va- 
luable productions,  as  they  were  imported  into  Cey- 
lon, and  conveyed  thence  to  the  various  marts  of 
India.* 

The  frequency  of  open  hostilities  between  the 
emperors  of  Constantinople  and  the  monarchs  of 
Persia,  together  with  the  increasing  rivalship  of  their 
subjects  in  the  trade  with  India,  gave  rise  to  an 
event  which  produced  a  considerable  change  in  the 
nature  of  that  commerce.  As  the  use  of  silk,  both 
in  dress  and  furniture,  became  gradually  more 
general  in  the  court  of  the  Greek  emperors,  who 
imitated  and  surpassed  the  sovereigns  of  Asia  in 
splendour  and  magnificence  ;  and  as  China,  in 
which,  according  to  the  concurring  testimony  of 
Oriental  writers,  the  culture  of  silk  was  originally 
known,!  still  continued  to  be  the  only  country 
which  produced  that  valuable  commodity :  the  Per- 
sians, improving  the  advantages  which  their  situ^ 
ation  gave  them  over  the  merchants  from  the  Ara- 
bian gulf,  supplanted  them  in  all  the  marts  of  India 
to  which  silk  was  brought  by  sea  from  the  East. 


*  Lib.  xi.  337.  t  Herbelot  Biblioth.  Orient, 

artic.  Harir. 


96         AN   HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION      SECT.  n. 

Having  it  likewise  in  their  power  to  molest  or  to 
cut  off  the  caravans,  which,  in  order  to  procure  a 
supply  for  the  Greek  empire,  travelled  by  land  to 
China,  through  the  northern  provinces  of  their  king- 
dom, they  entirely  engrossed  that  branch  of  com- 
merce. Constantinople  was  obliged  to  depend  on 
the  rival  power  for  an  article  which  luxury  viewed 
and  desired  as  essential  to  elegance.  The  Persians, 
with  the  usual  rapacity  of  monopolists,  raised  the, 
price  of  silk  to  such  an  exorbitant  height,*  that 
Justinian,  eager  not  only  to  obtain  a  full  and  cer- 
tain supply  of  a  commodity  which  was  become  of 
indispensable  use,  but  solickious  to  deliver  the  com- 
merce of  the  subjects  from  the  exactions  of  his 
enemies,  endeavoured,  by  means  of  his  ally,  the 
Christian  monarch  of  Abyssinia,  to  wrest  some 
portion  of  the  silk  trade  from  the  Persians.  In  this 
attempt  he  failed ;  but  when  he  least  expected  it,  he, 
by  an  unforeseen  event,  attained,  in  some  measure, 
the  object  which  he  had  in  view.  A.  D.  55.  Two 
Persian  monks  having  been  employed  as  missiona- 
ries in  some  of  the  Christian  churches,  which  were 
established  (as  we  are  informed  by  Cosmas)  in  dif- 
ferent parts  of  India,  had  penetrated  into  the  country 
of  the  Seres  or  China.  There  they  observed  the 
labours  of  ^the  silk-worm,  and  became  acquainted 
with  all  the  arts  of  man  in  working  up  its  pro- 
ductions into  such  a  variety  of  elegant  fabrics.  The 
prospect  of  gain,  or  perhaps  an  indignant  zeal, 
excited  by  seeing  this  lucrative  branch  of  commerce 

*  Procop,  Hist.  Arcan.  c,  25. 


SECT.  ii.        CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.  97 

engrossed  by  unbelieving  nations,  prompted  them 
to  repair  to  Constantinople.  There  they  explained 
to  the  emperor  the  origin  of  silk,  as  well  as  the  va- 
rious modes  of  preparing  and  manufacturing  it, 
mysteries  hitherto  unknown,  or  very  imperfectly 
understood  in  Europe ;  and  encouraged  by  his  libe- 
ral promises,  they  undertook  to  bring  to  the  capital 
a  sufficient  number  of  those  wonderful  insects,  to 
whose  labours  man  is  so  much  indebted.  This  they 
accomplished  by  conveying  the  eggs  of  the  silkworm 
in  a  hollow  cane.  They  were  hatched  by  the  heat 
of  a  dunghill,  fed  with  the  leaves  of  a  wild  mulberry 
tree,  and  they  multiplied  and  worked  in  the  same 
manner  as  in  those  climates  where  they  first  became 
objects  of  human  attention  and  care.*  Vast  num- 
bers of  these  insects  were  soon  reared  in  different 
parts  of  Greece,  particularly  in  the  Peloponnesus. 
Sicily  afterwards  undertook  to  breed  silkworms  with 
equal  success,  and  was  imitated  from  time  to  time 
in  several  towns  of  Italy.  In  all  these  places  exten- 
sive manufactures  were  established  and  carried  on, 
with  silk  of  domestic  production.  The  demand  for 
silk  from  the  East  diminished  of  course,  the  subjects 
of  the  Greek  emperors  were  no  longer  obliged  to 
have  recourse  to  the  Persians  for  a  supply  of  it,  and 
a  considerable  change  took  place  in  the  nature  of  the 
commercial  intercourse  between  Europe  and  India. f 

*  Procop.de  Bello  Gothic,  lib.  iv.  c.  17. 
f  See  NOTE  XXXVI. 


AN 


HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION 


CONCERNING 


ANCIENT  INDIA, 


SECTION  III. 

Jntercourse  -with  India  from  the  conquest  of  Egypt 
by  the  Mahomedans,  to  the  discovery  of  the  pas- 
-sage  by  the  cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Portuguese  dominion  in  the  East. 

ABOUT  fourscore  years  after  the  death  of 
Justinian,  an  event  happened  which  occasioned  a 
revolution  still  more  considerable  in  the  intercourse 
of  Europe  with  the  East.  Mahomet,  by  publishing 
a  new  religion,  seems  to  have  animated  his  country- 
men with  a  new  spirit,  and  to  have  called  forth  latent 
passions  and  talents  into  exertion.  The  greatest 
part  of  the  Arabians,  satisfied  from  the  earliest 
times  with  national  independence  and  personal 
liberty,  tended  their  camels,  or  reared  their  palm- 


SECT.  in.    AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION,  See.    9$ 

trees  within  the  precincts  of  their  own  peninsula, 
and  had  little  intercourse  with  the  rest  of  mankind, 
unless  when  they  sallied  out  to  plunder  a  caravan, 
or  to  rob  a  traveller.  In  some  districts,  however, 
they  had  begun  to  add  the  labours  of  agriculture, 
and  the  benefits  of  commerce,  to  the  occupations 
of  pastoral  life.*  These  different  orders  of  men, 
when  prompted  by  the  enthusiastic  ardour  with 
which  the  exhortations  and  example  of  Mahomet 
inspired  them,  displayed  at  once  all  the  zeal  of  mis- 
sionaries, and  the  ambition  of  conquerors.  They 
spread  the  doctrine  of  their  prophet,  and  extended 
the  dominion  of  his  successors,  from  the  shores  of 
the  Atlantic  to  the  frontier  of  China,  with  a  rapidity 
of  success  to  which  there  is  nothing  similar  in  the 
history  of  mankind.  Egypt  was  one  of  their  earliest 
conquests ;  A.  D.  1640  ;  and  as  they  settled  in  that 
inviting  country,  and  kept  possession  of  it,  the 
Greeks  were  excluded  from  all  intercourse  with 
Alexandria,  to  which  they  had  long  resorted  as  the 
chief  mart  of  Indian  goods.  Nor  was  this  the  only 
effect  which  the  progress  of  the  Mahomedan  arms 
had  upon  the  commerce  of  Europe  with  India. 
Prior  to  the  invasion  of  Egypt,  the  Arabians  had 
subdued  the  great  kingdom  of  Persia,  and  added  it 
to  the  empire  of  their  califs.  They  found  their  new 
subjects  engaged  in  prosecuting  that  extensive  trade 
with  India,  and  the  country  to  the  east  of  it,  the 
commencement  and  progress  of  which  in  Persia  I 

*  Sale's  Koran.    Prelim.  Dis.  p,  32,  33, 


100         AN  HISTORICAL   DISQUISITION       SECT.  HI, 

have  already  mentioned ;  and  they  were  so  sensible 
of  the  great  advantages  derived  from  it,  that  they 
became  desirous  to  partake  of  them.  As  the  active 
powers  of  the  human  mind,  when  roused  to  vigorous 
exertions  in  one  line,  are  most  capable  of  operating 
with  force  in  other  directions ;  the  Arabians  from 
impetuous  warriors,  soon  became  enterprising  mer- 
chants. They  continued  to  carry  on  the  trade  with 
India  in  its  former  channel  from  the  Persian  gulf, 
but  it  was  with  that  ardour  which  characterizes  all 
the  early  efforts  of  Mahomet's  followers.  In  a  short 
time  they  advanced  far  beyond  the  boundaries  of 
ancient  navigation,  and  brought  many  of  the  most 
precious  commodities  of  the  East,  directly  from 
the  countries  which  produced  them.  In  order  to 
engross  all  the  profit  arising  from  the  sale  of 
them,  the  calif  Omar,*  a  few  years  after  the 
conquest  of  Persia,  founded  the  city  of  Bassora,  on 
the  western  banks  of  the  great  stream  formed  by 
the  junction  of  the  Euphrates  and  Tigris,  with 
a  view  of  securing  the  command  of  these  two 
rivers,  by  which  goods  imported  from  India  were 
conveyed  into  all  parts  of  Asia.  With  such  dis- 
cernment was  the  situation  chosen,  that  Bassora 
soon  became  a  place  of  trade  hardly  inferior  to 
Alexandria. 

This   general   information  with  respect  to   the 
trade    of  the  Arabians  with    India,   which  is   all 


*  Herbel.  Biblioth.  Orient,  artic.  Basrah.    Abul.  Pharas, 
Hist.  Dynast,  p.  113. 


SECT.  in.     CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.  101, 

that  can  be  derived  from  the  historians  of  that 
period,  is  confirmed  and  illustrated  by  the  Relation 
of  a  Voyage  from  the  Persian  Gulf  towards  the 
East,  written  by  an  Arabian  merchant  in  the  year 
of  the  Christian  era  eight  hundred  and  fifty-one, 
about  two  centuries  after  Persia  was  subjected  to 
the  califs,  and  explained  by  the  Commentary  of 
another  Arabian,  who  bad  likewise  visited  the  east- 
ern parts  of  Asia.*  This  curious  Relation,  which 
enables  us  to  fill  up  a  chasm  in  the  history  of  mer- 
cantile communication  with  India,  furnishes  mate* 
rials  for  describing  more  in  detail  the  extent  of  the 
Arabian  discoveries  in  the  East,  and  the  manner  in 
which  they  made  them. 

Though  some  have  imagined  that  the  won- 
derful property  of  the  magnet,  by  which  it  com- 
municates such  virtue  to  a  needle  or  slender  rod  of 
iron,  as  to  make  it  point  towards  the  poles  of  the 
earth,  was  known  in  the  East  long  before  it  was 
observed  in  Europe,  it  is  manifest  both  from  the 
Relation  of  the  Mahomedan  merchant,  and  from 
much  concurring  evidence,  that  not  only  the 
Arabiaris  but  the  Chinese,  were  destitute  of  this 
faithful  guide,  and  that  their  mode  of  navigation 
was  not  more  adventurous  than  that  of  the  Greeks 
and  Romans.')*  They  steered  servilely  along  the 
coast,  seldom  stretching  out  to  sea  so  far  as  to 
lose  sight  of  land,  and  as  they  shaped  their  course 

*  Se$  NOTE  XXXVII.  f  Relation,  p.  2,  8,J&c, 


102  AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION   SECT.  in. 

in  this  timid  manner,  their  mode  of  reckoning  was 
defective,  and  liable  to  the  same  errors  which  I  ob- 
served in  that  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans.* 

Notwithstanding  these  disadvantages,  the,  pro- 
gress of  the  Arabians  towards  the  East  extend- 
ed far  beyond  the  gulf  of  Slum,  the  boundary 
of  European  navigation  They  became  acquaint- 
ed with  Sumatra,  and  the  other 'islands  of  the 
great  Indian  Archipelago,  and  advanced  as  far 
as  the  city  of  Canton  in  China.  Nor  are  these 
discoveries  to  be  considered  as  the  effect  of  the 
enterprising  curiosity  of  individuals ;  they  were 
owing  to  a  regular  commerce  carried  on  from  the 
Persian  gulf  with  China,  and  all  the  intermediate 
countries.  Many  Mahomedans  imitating  the  ex- 
ample of  the  Persians  described  by  Cosmas  Indi- 
copleustes,  settled  in  India  and  the  countries  be- 
yond it.  They  were  so  numerous  in  the  city  of 
Canton,  that  the  emperor  (as  the  Arabian  au- 
thors relate)  permitted  them  to  have  a  cadi  or 
judge  of  their  own  sect,  who  decided  controversies 
among  his  countrymen  by  their  own  laws,  and 
presided  in  all  the  functions  of  religion.*  In  other 
places  proselytes  were  gained  to  the  Mahomedan 
faith,  and  the  Arabian  language  was  understood 
and  spoken  in  almost  every  seaport  of  any 


*  Renauclot.     Inquiry  into  the  time  when  the  Mahomedans 
first  entered  China,  p.  143. 

f  Relation,  7.     Remarks,  p.  19.     Inquiry,  p.  171,  See, 


.  HI.  CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.  103 

note.  Ships  from  China  and  different  places  of 
India  traded  in  the  Persian  gulf,*  and  by  the 
frequency  of  mutual  intercourse,  all  the  nations 
of  the  East  became  better  acquainted  with  each 
other.f 

A  striking  proof  of  this  is  the  new  informa- 
tion concerning  China  and  India  we  receive  from 
the  two  authors  I  have  mentioned.  They  point 
out  the  situation  of  Canton,  now  so  well  known 
to  Europeans,  with  a  considerable  degree  of  ex- 
actness. They  take  notice  of  the  general  use  of 
silk  among  the  Chinese.  They  are  the  first  who 
mention  their  celebrated  manufacture  of  porcelane, 
which,  on  account  of  its  delicacy  and  transparency, 
they  compare  to  glass.J  They  describe  the  tea- 
tree,  and  the  mode  of  using  its  leaves;  and 
from  the  great  revenue  which  was  levied  (as  they 
inform  us)  from  the  consumption  of  it,  tea  seems 
to  have  been  as  universally  the  favourite  bever- 
age of  the  Chinese  in  the  ninth  century,  as  it  is 
at  present.  $ 

Even  with  respect  to  those  parts  of  India 
which  the  Greeks  and  Romans  were  accustomed 
to  visit,  the  Arabians  had  acquired  more  per- 
fect information.  They  mention  a  great  empire 
established  on  the  Malabar  coast,  governed  by  mo- 

"chs  whose    authority  was    paramount    to    that 

*  See  NOTE  XXXVIII.  f  Relation,  p.  8. 

1  See  NOTE  XXXIX,  §  Relation,  p.  21.  25 


104          AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION    SECT.  in. 

of  every  power  in  India.  These  monarchs  were 
distinguished  by  the  appellation  of  Balchara,  a 
name  yet  known  in  India,*  and  it  is  probable 
that  the  Samorin,  or  emperor  of  Calicut,  so 
frequently  mentioned  in  the  accounts  of  the  first 
voyages  of  the  Portuguese  to  India,  possessed 
some  portion  of  their  dominions.  They  cele- 
brate the  extraordinary  progres  which  the  In- 
dians had  made  in  astronomical  knowledge,  a 
circumstance  which  seems  to  have  been  little 
known  to  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  and  assert  that 
in  this  branch  of  science  they  were  far  superior  to 
the  most  enlightened  nations  of  the  East,  on  which 
account  their  sovereign  was  denominated  the  king 
of  wisdom. f  Other  peculiarities  in  the  -poli- 
tical institutions,  the  mode  of  judicial  proceed- 
ings, the  pastimes  and  the  superstitions  of  the  In- 
dians, particularly  the  excruciating  mortifications 
and  penances  of  the  faquirs,  might  be  produced 
as  proofs  of  the  superior  knowledge  which  the 
Arabians  had  acquired  of  the  manners  of  that 
people. 

The  same  commercial  spirit  or  religious  zeal, 
which  prompted  the  Mahomedans  of  Persia  to  visit 
the  remotest  regions  of  the  East,  animated  the 
Christians  of  that  kingdom.  The  Nestorian  churches 
planted  in  Persia,  under  the  protection  first  of  its 
native  sovereigns,  and  afterwards  of  its  conquerors 


*  Perbelot.  artic.  Hend.  Sc  Belhar.. 
t  Relation,  p.  37.  58, 


SECT.  in.      CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.          105 

the   califs    were  numerous,    and  governed  by  re- 
spectable ecclesiastics.     They  had  early  sent  mis- 
sionaries into  India,  and  established  churches  in  dif- 
ferent parts  of  it,  particularly,  as  I  have  formerly 
related,  in  the  island  of  Ceylon.     When  the  Ara- 
bians extended  their  navigation  as  far  as  China,  a 
more  ample  field,  both  for  their  commerce  and  their 
zeal,  opened  to  their  view.     If  we  may  rely  on  the 
concurring  evidence  of  Christian  authors,  in  the 
East  as  well  as  in  theWest,  confirmed  by  the  testi- 
mony   of  the  two  Mahomedan  travellers,  their  pi- 
ous labours  were  attended  with  such  success,   that 
in   the  ninth   and  tenth   centuries  the  number   of 
Christians  in  India  and  China  was  very  consider- 
able.*    As  the  churches  in  both  these  countries 
received  all   their   ecclesiastics   from  Persia,  where 
they  were  ordained  by  the  Catholicos,  or  Nestorian 
primate,  whose  supremacy  they  acknowledged,  this 
became  a  regular   channel  of  intercourse  and  intel- 
ligence ;  and  to   the  combined   effect  of  all  these 
circumstances,  we  are  indebted  for  the  information 
we  receive  from  the  two   Arabian  writers, f  con- 
cerning those  regions  of  Asia  which  the  Greeks  and 
Romans  never  visited. 

But  while  both  the  Mahomedan  and  Christian 
subjects  of  the  califs  continued  to  extend  their 
knowledge  of  the  East,  the  people  of  Europe  found 
themselves  excluded  almost  entirely  from  any  in- 


*  See  NOTE  XL.  t  Relation,  p.  39, 


106-          AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION    SECT.  in. 

tercourse  with  it.     To  them  the  great  port  of  Alex- 
andria was  now  shut,  and  the  new  lords  of  the  Per- 
sian gulf,   satisfied  with  supplying  the  demand  for 
Indian  commodities  in  their  own  extensive  domi- 
nions,  neglected  to   convey  them,   by  any  of  the 
usual  channels,  to  the  trading  towns  on  the  Medi- 
terranean.    The  opulent   inhabitants   of  Constan- 
tinople, and  other  great  cities  of  Europe,  bore  this 
deprivation   of  luxuries,   to   which  they  had  been 
long  accustomed,  with  such  impatience,  that  all  the 
activity  of  commerce  was  exerted,  in  order  to  find 
a  remedy  for  an  evil  which  they  deemed  intolerable. 
The  difficulties  which  were  to  be  surmounted  in 
order  to  accomplish  this,  afford  the  most  striking 
proof  of  the  high  estimation  in  which  the  commo- 
dities of  the  East  were  held  at  that  time.     The  silk 
of  China  was  purchased  in  Chensi,  the  westernmost 
province  of  that   empire,  and  conveyed  thence  by  a 
caravan,  in  a  march  of  eighty,   or  a  hundred  days, 
to  the  banks  of  the  Oxus,  where  it  was  embarked, 
and  carried  down  the  stream  of  that  river  to  the 
Caspian.     After  a  dangerous  voyage  across  that  sea, 
and  ascending  the  river  Cyrus  as  far  as  it  is  navi- 
gable, it  was  conducted  by  a  short  land- carriage  of 
five  days  to  the  river  Phasis,*  which  falls  into  the 
Euxine  or  Black    sea.     Thence,  by  an  easy  and 
well  known  course,  it  was  transported  to  Constan- 
tinople.    The  conveyance  of  commodities  from  that 
region   of  the  East,   now  known  by  the  name  of 
Indostan,  was  somewhat  less   tedious  and  operose. 

*  P!b,  Nat.  Hist.  lib.  vi.  c.  17. 


SECT.  in.    CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.          lof 

They  were  carried  from  the  banks  of  the  Indus  by 
a  route  early  frequented,  and  which  I  have  already 
described,  either  to  the  river  Oxus,  or  directly  to 
the  Caspian,  from  which  they  held  the  same  course 
to  Constantinople. 

It  is  obvious,    that  only  commodities  of  small 
bulk,   and  of  considerable   value,   could   bear  the 
expence  of  such  a  mode  of  conveyance  ;    and  in 
regulating  the  price  of  those  commodities,  not  only 
the  expence,  but  the  risk  and  danger  of  conveying 
them,  were  to  be  taken  into  account     In  their  jour- 
ney  across  the  vast  plain  extending  from  Samar- 
cande  to  the  frontier  of  China,  caravans  were  ex- 
posed to  the  assaults  and  depredations  of  the  Tar- 
tars, the  Huns,  the  Turks,  and  other  roving  tribes 
which  infest  the  north-east  of  Asia,  and  which  have 
always  considered   the  merchant   and   traveller   as 
their   lawful  prey  ;    nor   were  they  exempt  from 
insult  and  pillage  in  their  journey  from  the  Cyrus 
to  the  Phasis,  through  the  kingdom  of  Colchis,  a 
country   noted,   both   in   ancient    and   in   modern 
times,  for  the  thievish  disposition,  of  its  inhabitants. 
Even  under  all  these  disadvantages,  the  trade  with 
the  East  was  carried  on  with  ardour.     Constanti- 
nople became  a  considerable    mart  of  Indian  and 
Chinese  commodities,  and  the  wealth  which  flowed 
into  it  in  consequence  of  this,  not  only  added  to  the 
splendour  of  that  gfeat  city,  but  seems  to  have  re- 
tarded, for  some  time,  the  decline  of  the  empire  of 
which  it  was  the  capital. 


108  AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION  SECT.  HI. 

As  far  as  we  may  venture  to  conjecture,  from 
the  imperfect  information  of  contemporary  histo- 
rians, it  was  chiefly  by  the  mode  of  conveyance 
which  I  have  described,  perilous  and  operose  as  it 
was,  that  Europe  was  supplied  with  the  commodi- 
ties of  the  East,  during  more  than  two  centuries. 
Throughout  that  period  the  Christians  and  Maho- 
medans  were  engaged  in  almost  uninterrupted  hos- 
tilities ;  prosecuted  with  all  the  animosity  which 
rivalship  for  power,  heightened  by  religious  zeal, 
naturally  excites.  Under  circumstances  which  oc- 
casioned such  alienation,  commercial  intercourse 
could  hardly  subsist,  and  the  merchants  of  Chris- 
tendom either  did  not  resort  at  all  to  Alexandria, 
and  the  ports  of  Syria,  the  ancient  staples  for  the 
commodities  of  the  East,  after  they  were  in  pos- 
session of  the  Mahomedans,  or  if  the  love  of  gain, 
surmounting  their  abhorrence  of  the  Infidels, 
prompted  them  to  visit  the  marts  which  they  had 
long  frequented,  it  was  writh  much  caution  and 
distrust. 

While  the  difficulties  of  procuring  the  produc- 
tions of  the  East  were  thus  augmented,  the  people 
of  Europe  became  more  desirous  of  obtain  ing  them, 
About  this  time  some  cities  of  Italy,  particularly 
Amalphi  and  Venice,  having  acquired  a  greater 
degree  of  security  or  independence  than  they  for- 
merly  possessed,  began  to  cultivate  the  arts  of  do- 
mestic industry,  with  an  ardour  and  ingenuity  un- 
common in  the  middle  ages.  The  effect  of  these 


SECT.  in.  CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA-  109 

exertions  was  such  an  increase  of  wealth,  as  cre- 
ated new  wants  and  desires,  and  formed  a  taste 
for  elegance  and  luxury,  which  induced  them  to 
visit  foreign  countries  in  order  to  gratify  it.  Among 
men  in  this  stage  of  their  advancement,  the  pro- 
ductions of  India  have  always  been  held  in  high 
estimation,  and  from  this  period  they  were  imported 
into  Italy  in  larger  quantities,  and  came  into  more 
general  use.  Several  circumstances  which  indicate 
this  revival  of  a  commercial  spirit,  are  collected  by 
the  industrious  Muratori,  and  from  the  close  of  the 
seventh  century,  an  attentive  observer  nmy  discern 
faint  traces  of  its  progress*. 

Even  in  enlightened  ages  when  the  transactions 
of  nations  are  observed  and  recorded  with  the  great- 
est care,  and  the  store  of  historical  materials  seems 
to  be  abundantly  ample,  so  little  attention  has  been 
paid  to  the  operations  of  commerce,  that  every  at- 
tempt towards  a  regular  deduction  of  them,  has 
been  found  an  undertaking  of  the  utmost  difficulty. 
The  era,  however,  to  which  I  have  conducted  this 
Disquisition,  is  one  of  the  periods  in  the  annals  of 
mankind  concerning  which  history  furnishes  most 
scanty  information.  As  it  was  chiefly  in  the  Greek 
empire,  and  in  some  cities  of  Italy,  that  any  efforts 
were  made  to  procure  the  commodities  of  India, 
and  the  other  regions  of  the  East,  it  is  only  from 


*  Antiquit.  Ital  medij  uEvi,  ii.  400.  408.  410.  883.  885.  894. 
Rer.  Ital.  Script  ii.  487.  Histoire  du  Commerce  de  la 
Russie  par  M.  Scherer,  torn.  i.  p.  11.  &r. 


110  AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION  SECT.  m. 

the  historians  of  those  countries  we  can  expect  to 
find  any  account  of  that  trade.     But  from  the  age 
of  Mahomet,    until  the  time  when  the  Comneni 
ascended  the  throne  of  Constantinople,  a  period  of 
more  than  four  centuries  and  a  half,  the  Byzantine 
history  is  contained  in  meagre  chronicles,  the  com- 
pilers of  which  seldom  extended  their  views  beyond 
the  intrigues  in  the  palace,  the  factions  in  the  thea- 
tre, or  the  disputes  of  theologians.     To  them  the 
monkish  annalists  of  the  different  states  and  cities 
of  Italy,    during  the  same  period,   are  (if  possible) 
far  inferior   in  merit,  and  in  the   early  accounts  of 
those  cities  which  have  been  most  celebrated  for 
their  commercial  spirit,  we  search  with   little  suc- 
cess for  the  origin  or  nature  of  that  trade  by  which 
they  first  rose  to  eminence.*     It  is  manifest,  how- 
ever, from  the  slightest  attention  to  the  events  which 
happened  in  the  seventh  and  eighth  centuries,   that 
the  Italian  states,  while  their  coasts  were  continually 
infested  by  the  Mahomedans,  who  had  made  some 
settlements  there,  and  had  subjected  Sicily  almost 
entirely  to  their  dominion,  could   not  trade   with 
much  confidence  and  security  in  Egypt  and  Syria. 
With  what  implacable    hatred    Christians   viewed 
Mahomedans,  as  the  disciples  of  an  impostor,  is 
well  known ;  and  as  all  the  nations  which  professed 
the  Christian  faith,  both  in  the  East  and  West,  had 
mingled  the  worship  of  angels  and  saints  with  that 
of  the   Supreme  Being,    and   had   adorned    their 
churches  with  pictures  and  statues ;  the   true  Mos- 

*  See  NOE  XLI. 


SECT. in.    CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA-  111 

lems  considered  themselves  as  the  only  assertors  of 
the  unity  of  God,  and  beheld  Christians  of  every 
denomination  with  abhorrence,  as  idolators.  Much 
time  was  requisite  to  soften  this  mutual  animosity, 
so  far  as  to  render  intercourse  in  any  degree  cor- 
dial 

Meanwhile  a  taste  for  the  luxuries  of  the  East 
continued  not  only  to  spread  in  Italy,  but,  from 
imitation  of  the  Italians,  or  from  some  improve- 
ment in  their  own  situation,  the  people  of  Marseilles 
and  other  towns  of  France  on  the  Mediterranean, 
became  equally  fond  of  them.  But  the  profits 
exacted  by  the  merchants  of  Amalphi  or  Venice, 
from  whom  they  received  those  precious  commo- 
dities, were  so  exorbitant  as  prompted  them  to 
make  some  effort  to  supply  their  own  demands. 
With  this  view,  they  not  only  opened  a  trade 
with  Constantinople,  but  ventured  at  times  to  visit 
the  ports  of  Egypt  and  Syria.*  This  eagerness  of 
the  Europeans,  on  the  one  hand,  to  obtain  the  pro- 
ductions of  India,  and  on  the  other  hand,  consider- 
able advantages  which  both  the  califs  and  their 
subjects  derived  from  the  sale  of  them,  induced 
both  so  far  to  conceal  their  reciprocal  antipathy, 
as  to  carry  on  a  traffic  manifestly  for  their  common 
benefit.  How  far  this  traffic  extended,  and  in  what 
mode  it  was  conducted  by  these  new  adventurers, 
the  scanty  information  which  can  be  gathered 

*  Mem.  de  Literal,  torn,  xxxvii.  p.  467,  &c,  483, 


112        AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION      SECT.III. 

from  contempoary  writers,  does  not  enable  me  to 
trace  with  accuracy.  It  is  probable,  however,  that 
this  communication  would  have  produced  insen- 
sibly its  usual  effect,  of  familiarizing  and  recon- 
ciling men  of  hostile  principles  and  discordant 
manners  to  one  another,  and  a  regular  commerce 
might  have  been  established  gradually  between 
Christians  and  Mahomedans,  upon  such  equal  terms, 
that  the  nations  of  Europe  might  have  received  all 
the  luxuries  of  the  East  by  the  same  channels  in 
which  they  were  formerly  conveyed  to  them,  first 
by  the  Tyrians,  then  by  the  Greeks  of  Alexandria, 
next  by  the  Romans,  and  at  last  by  the  subjects  of 
the  Constantinopolitan  empire. 

But  whatever  might  have  been  the  influence  of 
this  growing  correspondence,  it  was  prevented  from 
operating  with  full  effect  by  the  crusades,  or  expe- 
ditions for  the  recovery  of  the  Holy  Land,  which, 
during  two  centuries,  occupied  the  professors  of  the 
two  rival  religions,  and  contributed  to  alienate  them 
more  than  ever  from  each  other.  I  have,  in  ano- 
ther work,f  contemplated  mankind  while  under 
the  dominion  of  this  frenzy,  the  most  singular  per- 
haps, and  the  longest  continued,  of  any  that  occurs 
in  the  history  of  our  species  ;  and  I  pointed  out 
such  effects  of  it  upon  government,  upon  property, 
upon  manners  and  taste,  as  were  suited  to  what 
were  then  the  objects  of  my  inquiry.  At  pre- 
sent my  attention  is  confined  to  observe  the  commer- 

*  Hist,  of  Charles  V.  vol.  i.  p,  26.  edit.  1787. 


SECT.  in.    CONCERNING  ANCIENT   INDIA.          US 

cial  consequences  of  the  crusades,  and  how  far 
they  contributed  to  retard  or  to  promote  the  con- 
veyance of  Indian  commodities  into  Europe. 

To   fix  an  idea  of  peculiar  sanctity  to  that  coun- 
try,   which    the  Author  of    our  religion   selected 
as  the  place  of  his  residence  while  on  earth,  and 
in  which  he  accomplished  the  redemption  of  man- 
kind,   is   a    sentiment    so    natural   to  the   human 
mind,  that,  from  the  first  establishment  of  Chris- 
tianity, the  visiting*  of  the  holy  places  in  Judea  was 
considered  as  an  exercise  of  piety,  tending  power- 
fully to  awaken  and  to  cherish  a  spirit  of  devotion*. 
Through   succeeding   ages,    the  practice    continu- 
ed and  increased    in  every  part    of  Christendom. 
When   Jerusalem    was    subjected   to    the    Maho- 
medan   empire,    and    danger    was    added    to   the 
fatigue  and   expense  of  a  distant  pilgrimage,   the 
undertaking   was  viewed  as   still  more  meritorious, 
It  was  sometimes  enjoined  as  a  penance  to  be  per- 
formed by   heinous  transgressors.       It  was    more 
frequently  a  duty  undertaken  with  voluntary  zeal, 
and   in  both  cases  it  was  deemed  an  expiation   for 
all  past  offences.     From  various  causes,   which  I 
have  elsewhere  enumerated,*  these  pious  visits  to 
the  Holy    Land   multiplied    amazingly  during  the 
tenth  and  eleventh  centuries.     Not  only  individuals 
in  the  lower  and  middle  ranks  of  life,  but  persons 
of  superior  condition,    attended  by  large  retinues^ 


*  Hist,  of  Charles  V.  vol.  i.  p.  27.  285, 


114          AN  HISTORCIAL  DISQUISITION.     SECT,  in, 

and  numerous  caravans  of  opulent  pilgrims,  resorted 
to  Jerusalem. 

In  all  their   operations,    however,   men  have   a 
Wonderful  dexterity   in    mingling   some   attention 
to   interest  with  those   functions   which   seem  to 
be  most  purely  spiritual.     The   Mahomedan  cara- 
vans,  which,  in  obedience  to  the  injunctions   of 
their   religion,  visit    the  holy    temple    of  Mecca, 
are   not    composed,    as  I   shall    hereafter  explain 
more    fully,    of    devout    pilgrims   only,    but     of 
merchants,  who,  both  in  going  and  returning,  are 
provided  with   such  an  assortment  of  goods,  that 
they   carry  on  a   considerable  traffic.*     Even  the 
faquirs  of  India,  whose  wild  enthusiasm  seems  to 
elevate  them  above  all  solicitude  about  the  concerns 
of  this  world,  have  rendered   their   frequent  pil- 
grimages subservient  to  their  interest,  by  trading 
in  every  country  through  which  they  travel.;)*     In 
like  manner,   it   was  not  by  devotion  alone  that 
such  numerous  bands  of  Christian  pilgrims  were 
induced   to  visit  Jerusalem.     To   many  of  them 
commerce  was  the  chief  motive  of  undertaking  that 
distant  voyage,  and  by  exchanging  the  productions 
of  Europe  for  the  more  valuable  commodities  of 
Asia,  particularly  those   of  India,    which   at   that 
time  were  diffused  through  every  part  of  the  ca- 
lifs   dominions,    they    enriched    themselves     and 
furnished  their  countrvmen  with  such  an  additional 


*  Viagidi  Ramusio,  vol.  i,  p.  151,  152. 
t  See  NOTE  XLIL 


*ECT.  in.    CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.          115 

supply   of  Eastern  luxuries,   as   augmented  their 
relish  for  them.* 

But  how  faint  soever  the  lines  may  be,  which, 
prior  to  the  crusades,  mark  the  influence  of  the 
frequent  pilgrimages  to  the  East  upon  commerce, 
they  become  so  conspicuous  after  the  commence- 
ment of  these  expeditions,  as  to  meet  the  eye 
of  every  observer.  Various  circumstances  concur- 
red towards  this,  from  an  enumeration  of  which 
it  will  appear,  that  by  attending  to  the  progress 
and  effects  of  the  crusades,  considerable  light  is 
thrown  upon  the  subject  of  my  inquiries.  Great 
armies,  conducted  by  the  most  illustrious  princes 
and  nobles  of  Europe,  and  composed  of  men  of 
the  most  enterprising  spirit  in  all  the  kingdoms 
of  it,  marched  towards  Palestine,  through  coun- 
tries far  advanced  beyond  those  which  they  left 
in  every  species  of  improvement.  They  beheld 
the  dawn  of  prosperity  in  the  republics  of  Italy, 
which  had  begun  to  vie  with  each  other  in  the  arts 
of  industry,  and  in  their  efforts  to  engross  the 
lucrative  commerce  with  the  East.  They  next 
admired  the  more  advanced  state  of  opulence  and 
splendour  in  Constantinople,  raised  to  a  pre-emi- 
nence above  all  the  cities  then  known,  by  its 
extensive  trade,  particularly  that  which  it  carried 
on  with  India,  and  the  countries  beyond  it. 
They  afterwards  served  in  those  provinces  of 

*  Gul.   Tyr.  lib.   xvii.  c,  4,  p.  933.  ap.  Gesta   Die   per 

Francos. 


116        AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION      SECT.  in. 

Asia  through  which  the  commodities  of  the  East 
were  usually  conveyed,  and  became  masters  of 
several  cities  which  had  been  staples  of  that  trade. 
They  established  the  kingdom  of  Jerusalem,  which 
subsisted  near  two  hundred  years.  They  took 
possession  of  the  throne  of  the  Greek  empire > 
and  governed  it  above  half  a  century.  Amidst 
such  a  variety  of  events  and  operations,  the  ideas 
of  the  fierce  warriors  of  Europe  gradually  open- 
ed and  improved;  they  became  acquainted  with 
the  policy  and  arts  of  the  people  whom  they  sub  - 
dued ;  they  observed  the  sources  of  their  wealth, 
and  availed  themselves  of  ail  this  knowledge. 
Antioch  and  Tyre,  when  conquered  by  the  cru- 
saders, were  flourishing  cities,  inhabited  by  opulent 
merchants,  who  supplied  all  the  nations  trading  in 
the  Mediterranean  with  the  productions  of  the 
East,*  and  as  far  as  can  be  gathered  from  inci- 
dental occurrences,  mentioned  by  the  historians  ,,of 
the  holy  war,  who,  being  mostly  priests  and 
monks,  had  their  attention  directed  to  objects 
very  different  from  those  relating  to  commerce, 
there  is  reason  to  believe  that  both  in  Constan- 
tinople while  subject  to  the  Franks,  and  in  the 
ports  of  Syria  acquired  by  the  Christians,  the 
long  established  trade  with  the  East  continued  to 
he  protected  and  encouraged. 

But    though    commerce    may  have    been    only 
a  secondary    object    with   the   martial    leaders   of 

*  Gul.   Tyr.  lib.  xiii.  c.    5.     Alb,    Aquens,   Hist.  Hieros 
^p,  Gesta  Die,  vol.  i.  p.  247. 


SECT.  in.    CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA,  1 1 7 

the  crusades,  engaged  in  perpetual  hostilities  with 
the  Turks  on  one  hand,  and  with  the  soldans 
of  Egypt  on  the  other,  it  was  the  primary  object 
with  the  associates,  in  conjunction  with  whom 
they  carried  on  their  operations.  Numerous  as 
the  armies  were  which  assumed  the  cross,  and 
enterprising  as.  the  fanatical  zeal  was  with  which 
they  were  animated,  they  could  not  have  accom- 
plished their  purpose,  or  even  have  reached  the 
seat  of  their  warfare,  without  securing  the  assistance 
of  the  Italian  states.  None  of  the  other  Eu- 
ropean powers  could  either  furnish  a  sufficient 
number  of  transports  to  convey  the  armies  of  the 
crusaders  to  the  coast  of  Dalmatia,  whence  they 
marched  to  Constantinople,  the  place  of  general 
rendezvous;  or  were  able  to  supply  them  with 
military  stores  and  provisions  in  such  abundance 
as  to  enable  them  to  invade  a  distant  country. 
In  all  the  successive  expeditions,  the  fleets  of  the 
Genoese,  of  the  Pisans,  or  of  the  Venetians, 
kept  on  the  coast  as  the  armies  advanced  by  land, 
and  supplying  them  from  time  to  time  with  what- 
ever was  wanting,  engrossed  all  the  profits  of  a 
branch  of  commerce,  which,  in  every  age,  has 
been  extremely  lucrative.  It  was  with  all  the  in- 
terested attention  of  merchants,  that  the  Italians 
afforded  their  aid.  On  the  reduction  of  any 
place  in  which  they  found  it  for  their  interest 
to  settle,  they  obtained  from  the  crusaders  va- 
luable immunities  of  different  kinds;  freedom  of 
trade ;  an  abatement  of  the  usual  duties  paid  for 
*yhat  was  imported  and  exported,  or  a  total  ex- 


811       AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION        SECT.  m. 

emption  from  them  ;  the  property  of  entire  suburbs 
in  some  cities-,  and  of  extensive  streets  in  others ; 
and  a  privilege  granted  to  every  person  who  re- 
sided within  their  precincts,  or  who  traded  un- 
der their  protection,  of  being  tried  by  their  own 
laws,  and  by  judges  of  their  onw  appointment.*  In 
consequence  of  so  many  advantages  we  can  trace, 
during  the  progress  of  the  crusades,  a  rapid  in- 
crease of  wealth  and  of  power  in  all  the  com- 
mercial states  of .  Italy.  Every  port  open  to  trade 
was  frequented  by  their  merchants,  who,  having 
now  engrossed  entirely  the  commerce  of  the  East, 
strove  with  such  active  emulation  to  find  new 
markets  for  the  commodities  which  it  furnished, 
that  they  extended  a  taste  for  them  to  many  parts 
of  Europe,  in  which  they  had  hitherto  been  little 
known. 

Two  events  happened,  prior  to  the  termination 
of  "the  holy  war,  which,  by  acquiring  to  the 
Venetians  and  Genoese  the  possession  of  several 
provinces  in  the  Greek  empire,  enabled  them  to 
supply  Europe  more  abundantly  with  all  the  pro- 
ductions of  the  East,  The  first  was  the  con- 
quest of  Constantinople  in  the  year  one  thousand 
two  hundred  and  four  by  the  Venetians,  and 
the  leaders  of  the  fourth  crusade.  An  account 
of  the  political  interests  and  intrigues  which  form- 
ed this  alliance,  and  turned  the  hallowed  arms  de- 
stined to  deliver  the  Holy  City  from  the  domi- 

*  Hist,  of  Charles  V.  vol.  i.  p.  34,. 


SECT.  in.    CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.  1 19 

nion  of  Infidels,  against  a  Christian  monarch,  is  fo- 
reign from   the  design  of  this  Disquisition.     Con- 
stantinople was  taken  by  storm,  and   plundered  by 
the  confederates.     An  earl  of  Flanders  was  placed 
on   the  imperial  throne.      The   dominions   which 
still  remained  subject  to  the  successors  of  Con- 
stantine,  were    divided    into    four    parts,    one  of 
which    being  allotted  to   the    new    emperor,   for 
supporting  the  dignity  and  expence  of  government, 
an  equal  partition  of  the  other  three  was  made  be- 
tween the  Venetians,  and  the  chiefs  of  the  crusade. 
The  former,  who,   both  in  concerting  and  in  con- 
ducting this   enterprise,   kept  their   eyes  steadily 
fixed  on  what  might  be  most  for  the  emolument 
of   their   commerce,    secured    the    territories     of 
greatest  value   to  a  trading  people.     They  obtain- 
ed some  part  of  the  Peloponnesus,  at  that  time  the 
seat  of    flourishing   manufactures,    particularly   of 
silk.     They   became    masters   of    several   of  the 
largest   and  best   cultivated  islands   in   the  Archi- 
pelago,   and    established  a   chain   of  settlements, 
partly  military  and  partly   commercial,  extending 
from   the  Adriatic    to   the    Bosphorus.*      Many 
Venetians   settled  in  Constantinople,  and  without 
obstruction  from    their    warlike    associates,    little 
attentive  to  the  arts  of  industry,  they  engrossed 
the  various  branches  of  trade  which  had  so  long 
enriched  that   capital.     Two  of  these  particularly 


*  Danduli  Chronic,  ap.  Murat.  Script.  Rer.  Ital.  vol.  xii. 
p.  328.  Mar.  Sannto  Vite  de  Duchi  di  Venez.  Mur;/. 
vol.  xxxii.p. 


120  AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION    SECT,  m, 

attracted  their  attention ;   the  silk  trade,  and  that 
with  India.     From  the  reign  of  Justinian,  it  was 
mostly  in  Greece,  and  some  of  the  adjacent  islands, 
that  silk-worms,  which  he  first  introduced  into  Eu- 
rope, were  reared.     The  product  of  their  labours 
was  manufactured  into  stuffs  of  various  kinds  in 
many  cities  of  the  empire.     But  it  was  in  Con- 
stantinople,  the  seat  of  opulence  and  luxury,  that 
the  demand  for  a  commodity  of  such  high  price 
was  greatest,  and  there,  of  consequence,  the  com- 
merce  of  silk    naturally   centered.      In    assorting 
cargoes  for    the     several   ports     in     which    they 
traded,    the  Venetians  had   for   some  time   found 
silk  to  be  an  essential  article,    as  it  continued  to 
grow   more  and  more  into  request  in  every  part  of 
Europe.      By  the  residence  of  so  many   of  their 
citizens    in  Constantinople,  and  by  the   immuni- 
ties granted  to  them,  they  not  only  procured  silk 
in  such  abundance,  and  on  such  terms,    as  enabled 
them   to  carry    on  trade    more    extensively,    and 
with  greater   profit  than  formerly,    but  they    be- 
came so  thoroughly  acquainted  with  every  branch 
of  the  silk  manufacture,    as  induced  them  to  at- 
tempt  the  establishment   of  it  in  their   own   do- 
minions.    The  measures  taken  for    this   purpose 
by  individuals,   as  well  as  the  regulations  framed 
by  the   state,  were  concerted  with  so  much  pru- 
dence,  and  executed   with  such  success,  that  in 
a    short    time    the  silk    fabrics    of    Venice   vied 
with  those   of  Greece  and  Sicily,  and  contributed 
both   to  enrich  the  republic,    and  to  enlarge  the 
sphere  of  its   commerce.     At  the  same   time   the 


*ECT.III.     CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.  121 

Venetians  availed  themselves  of  the  influence 
which  they  had  acquired  ^Constantinople,  in  order 
to  improve  their  Indian  trade.  The  capital  of 
the  Greek  empire,  besides  the  means  of  being 
supplied  with  the  productions  of  the  East,  which 
it  enjoyed  in  common  with  the  other  commer- 
cial cities  of  Europe,  received  u  considerable 
portion  of  them  by  a  channel  peculiar  to  itself. 
Some  of  the  most  valuable  commodities  of  India 
and  China  were  conveyed  over  land,  by  routes 
which  I  have  described,  to  the  Black  sea,  and 
thence  by  a  short  navigation  to  Constantinople,, 
To  this  market,  the  best  stored  of  any  except 
Alexandria,  the  Venetians  had  now  easy  access, 
and  the  goods  which  they  purchased  there,  made 
an  addition  of  great  consequence  to  what  they 
were  accustomed  to  acquire  in  the  ports  of  Egypt 
and  Syria.  Thus  while  the  Latin  empire  in  Con- 
stantinople subsisted,  the  Venetians  possessed  such 
advantages  over  all  their  rivals,  that  their  com- 
merce extended  greatly,  and  it  was  chiefly  from 
them  every  part  of  Europe  received  the  commodi- 
ties of  the  East. 

The  other  event  which  I  had  in  view,  was  the 
subversion  of  the  dominion  of  the  Latins  in  Con- 
stantinople, and  the  re-establishment  of  the  impe- 
rial family  on  the  throne*  This  was  effected  after 
a  period  of  fifty-seven  years,  partly  by  a  transient 
effort  of  vigour,  with  which  indignation  at  a  foreign 
yoke  animated  the  Greeks,  and  partly  by  the 
powerful  assistance  which  they  received  from  tl>e 


II*          AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION.    SECT.  us. 

republic  of  Genoa.     The  Genoese  were  so  sensi- 
ble of  the  advantages   which  the   Venetians,  their 
rivals  in  trade,  derived  from  their  union  with  the 
Latin  emperors  of  Constantinople,  that,  in  order  to 
deprive  them  of  these,  they  surmounted  the  most 
deep-rooted  prejudices  of  their  age,  and  combined 
with  the  schismatic  Greeks  to  dethrone  a  monarch 
protected  -ty  the  papal  power,  setting  at  defiance 
the   thunders  of  the  Vatican,  which  at  that  time 
mad-  the   greatest  princes  tremble.     This  under- 
taking,   bold  and  impious  as  it  was  then  deemed, 
proved  successful.     In  recompense  for  their  signal 
services,  the  gratitude  or  weakness  of  the  Greek 
emperor,  among  other  donations,    bestowed  upon 
the  Genoese  Pera,  the  chief  suburb  of  Constanti- 
nople,   to  be  held  as   a  fief  of  the    empire,    to- 
gether with  such  exemption  from  the  accustomed 
duties  on  goods  imported  and  exported,  as  gave 
them  a  decided  superiority  over   every    competi- 
tor in  trade.     With  the  vigilant  attention  of  mer- 
chants,   the  Genoese  availed  themselves    of   this 
favourable  situation.     They  surrounded  their  new 
settlement  in  Pera  with  fortifications.     They  ren- 
dered their  factories  on  the  adjacent  coast  places  of 
strength.*     They  were   masters  of  the  harbour  of 
Constantinople  more  than  the  Greeks  themselves. 
The  whole  trade  of  the  Black  sea  came  into  their 
hands  ;  and  not  satisfied  with  this,  they  took  pos- 
session of  part  of  the   Chersonesus  Taurica,  the 
modern  Crinicea,  and  rendered  Caffa,  its  principal 

*  Niccph.  Gregor.  lib.  xi.  lib.  c.  l.§  6.  lib.  xvii.  c.  1.  §  2, 


SECT.  in.    CONCERNING  ANCIENT   INDIA,          123 

town,  the  chief  seat  of  their  trade  with  the  East,  and 
the  port  in  which  all  its  productions,  conveyed  to 
the  Black  sea  by  the  different  routes  I  have  former- 
ly described,  were  landed.'* 

In  consequence  of  this  revolution,  Genoa  be- 
came the  greatest  commercial  power  in  Europe ; 
and  if  the  enterprising  industry  and  intrepid  courage 
of  its  citizens  had  been  under  the  direction  of  wise 
domestic  policy,  it  might  have  long  held  that  rank. 
But  never  was  there  a  contrast  more  striking^ 
than  between  the  internal  administration  of  the 
two  rival  republics  of  Venice  and  Genoa.  In  the 
former,  government  was  conducted  with  steady 
systematic  prudence  ;  in  the  latter,  it  was  consistent 
in  nothing  but  a  fondness  for  novelty,  and  a  pro- 
pensity to  change.  The  one  enjoyed  a  perpetual 
calm,  the  other  was  agitated  with  all  the  storms  and 
vicissitudes  of  faction.  The  increase  of  wealth, 
which  flowed  into  Genoa  from  the  exertions  of  its 
merchants,  did  not  counterbalance  the  defects  in 
its  political  constitution  ;  and  even  in  its  most  pros- 
perous state  we  may  discern  the  appearance  of 
symptoms  which  foreboded  a  diminution  of  its  opu- 
lenceand  power. 

As  long,   however,  as  the    Genoese  retained  the 
ascendant  which  they  had  accquired  in  the  Greek 


Folieta  Hist.  Genuens.  ap.  Graev.  Thes.  Antiq.  Ital.  i. 
387.  De  Marinis  cle  Genuens.  Dignit.  ib.  1486.  Niceph. 
Greg.  lib.  xiii.  e.  12.  Murat.  Annal.  d'ltal.  lib.  vii.  c.  351, 
Sea  NOTE  XLIII. 


124          AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION      SECT.  ui, 

empire,  the  Venetians  felt  their  commercial  transac- 
tions with  it  to  be  carried  on  upon  such  unequal 
terms,  that  their  merchants  visited  Constantinople 
seldom  and  with  reluctance  ;  and  in  order  to  procure 
the  commodities  of  the  East  in  such  quantities  as 
were  demanded  in  the  various  parts  of  Europe 
which  they  were  accustomed  to  supply,  they  were 
obliged  to  resort  to  the  ancient  staples  of  that  trade. 
Of  these  Alexandria  was  the  chief,  and  the  most 
abundantly  supplied,  as  the  conveyance  of  Indian 
goods  by  land  through  Asia,  to  any  of  the  ports  of 
the  Mediterranean,  was  often  rendered  impractica- 
ble by  the  incursions  of  Turks,  Tartars,  and  other 
hordesj  which  successively  desolated  that  fertile 
country,  or  contended  for  the  dominion  of  it.  But 
under  the  military  and  vigorous  government  of  the 
soldans  of  the  Mameluks,  security  and  order  were 
steadily  maintained  in  Egypt,  and  trade,  though 
loaded  with  heavy  duties,  was  open  to  all.  In 
proportion  to  the  progress  of  the  Genoese  in  en- 
grossing the  commerce  of  Constantinople  and  the 
Black  sea,*  the  Venetians  found  it  more  and  more 
necessary  to  enlarge  their  transactions  with  Alex- 
andria. 

But  such  an  avowed  intercourse  with  Infidels 
being  considered,  in  that  age,  as  unbecoming  the 
character  of  Christians,  the  senate  of  Venice,  in 
order  to  silence  its  own  scruples,  or  those  of 
Its  subjects,  had  recourse  to  the  infallible  au-. 

*  See  NOTE  XJ4V? 


SECT.  in.    CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.          125 

thority  of  the  pope,  who  was  supposed  to  be  pos- 
sessed of  power  to  dispense  with  the  rigorous  ob- 
servation of  the  most  sacred  laws,  and  obtained 
permission  from  him  to  fit  out  annually  a  specified 
number  of  ships  for  the  ports  of  Egypt  and  of  Sy- 
ria.* Under  this  sanction  the  republic  concluded  a 
treaty  of  commerce  with  the  soldans  of  Egypt,  on 
equitable  terms ;  in  consequence  of  which  the 
senate  appointed  one  consul  to  reside  in  Alexandria, 
and  another  in  Damascus,  in  a  public  character,  and 
to  exercise  a  mercantile  jurisdiction,  authorized  by 
the  soldans.  Under  their  protection,  Venetian  mer- 
chants and  artiscns  settled  in  each  of  these  cities. 
Ancient  prejudices  and  antipathies  were  forgotten, 
and  their  mutual  interests  established,  for  the  first 
time,  a  fair  and  open  trade  between  Christians  and 
Mahomedans.f 

While  the  Venetians  and  Genoese  were  al- 
ternately making  those  extraordinary  efforts,  in 
order  to  engross  all  the  advantages  of  supplying 
Europe  with  the  productions  of  the  East,  the  re- 
public of  Florence,  originally  a  commercial  de- 
mocracy, applied  with  such  persevering  vigour  to 
trade,  and  the  genius  of  the  people,  as  well  as 
the  nature  of  their  institutions,  were  so  favourable 
to  its  progress,  that  the  state  advanced  rapidly 
in  power,  and  the  people  in  opulence.  But  as 
the  Florentines  did  not  possess  any  commodious 

*  See  NOTE  XLV. 

t  Sandi  Storia  Civile  Veneziaiia,  lib.  v.  c.  15.  p.  248,  &c. 


1X6  AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION    SECT.  itr, 

seaport,  their  active  exertions  were  directed  chiefly 
towards  the  improvement  of  their  manufactures, 
and  domestic  industry.  About  the  beginning  of  the 
fourteenth  century,  the  Florentine  manufactures  of 
various  kinds,  particularly  those  of  silk  and  wool- 
len cloth,  appear  from  the  enumeration  of  a  well-in- 
formed historian,  to  have  been  very  considerable,* 
The  connexion  which  they  formed  in  different 
parts  of  Europe,  by  furnishing  them  with  the  pro- 
ductions of  their  own  industry,  led  them  to  engage 
in  another  branch  of  trade,  that  of  banking.  In 
this  they  soon  became  so  eminent,  that  the  money 
transactions  of  almost  eveiy  kingdom  in  Europe 
passed  through  their  hands,  and  in  many  of  them 
they  were  intrusted  with  the  collection  and  admi- 
nistration of  the  public  revenues.  In  consequence 
of  the  activity  and  success  with  which  they  con- 
ducted their  manufactures  and  money  transactions, 
the  former  always  attended  with  certain  though 
moderate  profit,  the  latter  lucrative  in  an  high 
degree,  at  a  period  when  neither  the  interest  of 
money,  nor  the  premium  on  bills  of  exchange, 
were  settled  with  accuracy,  Florence  became  one 
of  the  first  cities  in  Christendom,  and  many  of 
its  citizens  extremely  opulent.  Cosmo  di  Medici, 
the  head  of  a  family  which  rose  from  obscurity 
by  its  success  in  trade,  was  reckoned  the  most 
wealthy  merchant  ever  known  in  Europe  ;f  and 

*  Giov.  Villam  Hist.  Fiorcnt.  ap.  Murat.  Script.  Rer.  Ital. 
vol.  xiii.  p.  823.  Dell'  Istorie  Florentine,  di  Scip.  Ammi- 
rato,  lib.  iv.  p.  151.  lib.  viii.  p.  299. 

t  Fr.  Mich.  [Brutus  Hist.  Flor.  p.  37.  62.     Chron.  Eugu- 


SECT.  m.    CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.  127 

in  acts  of  public  munificence,  as  well  as  of  private 
generosity,  in  the  patronage  of  learning,  and  in 
the  encouragement  of  useful  and  elegant  arts, 
no  monarch  of  the  age  could  vie  with  him. 
Whether  the  Medici,  in  their  first  mercantile 
transactions,  carried  on  any  commerce  with  the 
East,  I  have  not  been  able  to  discover.*  It  is 
more  probable,  I  should  think,  that  their  trade  was 
confined  to  the  same  articles  with  that  of  their 
countrymen.  But  as  soon  as  the  commonwealth,  by 
the  conquest  of  Pha,  A.C.  1405,  had  acquired  a 
communication  with  the  ocean,  Cosmo  di  Medici, 
who  had  the  chief  direction  of  its  affairs,  endea- 
voured to  procure  for  his  country  a  share  in  that 
lucrative  commerce  which  had  raised  Venice  and 
Genoa  so  far  above  all  the  other  Italian  states. 
With  this  view  ambassadors  were  sent  to  Alex- 
andria, A.  C.  1425.  in  order  to  prevail  with  the 
soldan  to  open  that  and  the  other  ports  of  his 
dominions,  to  the  subjects  of  the  republic,  and  to 
admit  them  to  a  participation  in  all  the  commer- 
cial privileges  which  were  enjoyed  by  the  Vene- 
tians. The  negociation  terminated  with  such  suc- 
cess, that  the  Florentines  seem  to  have  obtained 
some  share  in  the  Indian  trade  ;f  and  soon  after 
this  period,  we  find  spices  enumerated  among 
the  commodities  imported  by  the  Florentines  into 
England.J 

binum  ap.  Murat.  Script.  Rer.  Ital.  vol.  xiv.  p.  1007.     Deni* 
na  Revol.  cTItalie,  torn.  vi.  p.  263,  &c, 

*  See  NOTE  XLVI.  f  Se«  NOTE  XLVIt 

J  Hakluyt,vol.  i.p.  193 


228      AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION        SECT,  m, 

In  some  parts  of  this  Disquisition,  concerning  the 
nature  and  course  of  trade  with  the  East,  I  have 
been  obliged  to  grope  my  way,  and  often  under 
the  guidance  of  very  feeble  lights.  But  as  we  are 
now  approaching  to  the  period  when  the  modern 
ideas  with  respect  to  the  importance  of  commerce, 
began  to  unfold,  and  attention  to  its  progress  and 
effects  became  a  more  considerable  object  of  policy, 
we  may  hope  to  carry  on  what  researches  yet  re- 
main to  be  made,  with  greater  certainty  and  pre- 
cision. To  this  growing  attention  we  are  indebted 
for  the  account  which  Marino  Sanudo,  a  Venetian 
nobleman,  gives  of  the  Indian  trade,  as  carried  on 
by  his  countrymen,  about  the  beginning  of  the 
fourteenth  century.  They  were  supplied,  as  he  in- 
forms us,  with  the  productions  of  the  East  in  two 
different  ways.  Those  of  small  bulk  and  high  value, 
such  as  cloves,  nutmegs,  mace,  gems,  pearls,  &c. 
were  conveyed  from  the  Persian  gulf  up  the 
Tigris  to  Bassora,  and  thence  to  Bagdat,  from 
which  they  were  carried  to  some  port  on  the 
Mediterranean.  All  more  bulky  goods,  such  as 
pepper,  ginger,  cinnamon,  &c.  together  with  some 
portion  of  the  more  valuable  articles,  were  convey- 
ed by  the  ancient  route  to  the  Red  sea,  and  thence 
across  the  Desert,  and  down  the  Nile,  to  Alex- 
andria. The  goods  received  by  the  former  route 
were,  as  Sanudo  observes,  of  superior  quality,  but 
from  the  tediousness  and  expense  of  a  distant 
land -carriage,  the  supply  was  often  scanty,  nor  can 
he  conceal  (though  contrary  to  a  favourite  project 
which  he  had  in  view  when  he  wrote  the  treatise  to 


SECT.  in.      CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.          129 

which  I  refer)  that,  from  the  state  of  the  countries 
through  which  the  caravans  passed,  this  mode  of 
conveyance  was  frequently  precarious  and  attended 
with  danger.* 

It  was  in  Alexandria  only  that  the  Venetians 
found  always  a  certain  and  full  supply  of  Indian 
goods  ;  and  as  these  were  conveyed  thither  chiefly 
by  water  carriage,  they  might  have  purchased  them 
at  a  moderate  price,  if  the  soldans  had  not  imposed 
upon  them  duties  which  amounted  to  a  third  part 
of  their  full  value.  Under  this  and  every  other 
disadvantage,  however,  it  was  necessary  to  procure 
them,  as  from  many  concurring  circumstances  par- 
ticularly a  more  extensive  intercourse  established 
among  the  different  nations  of  Europe,  the  demand 
for  them  continued  to  increase  greatly  during  the 
fourteenth  century.  By  the  irruptions  of  the  va- 
rious hostile  tribes  of  barbarians,  who  took  pos- 
session of  the  greater  part  of  Europe,  that  powerful 
bond  by  which  the  Romans  had  united  together 
all  the  people  of  their  vast  empire  was  entirely  dis- 
solved, and  such  discouragement  was  given  to  the 
communication  of  one  nation  with  another,  as  would 
appear  altogether  incredible,  if  the  evidence  of  it 
rested  wholly  upon  the  testimony  of  historians,  and 
were  not  confirmed  by  what  is  still  more  authentic, 
the  express  enactment  of  laws.  Several  statutes  of 
this  kind,  which  disgrace  the  jurisprudence  of 

*  Mar.  Sanuti  Secrcta  Fidelium  Crucis,  p.  22,  See.  ap.  Bon- 
garsium. 

a 


WO        AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION      SECT.  in. 

almost  every  European  nation  I  have  enumerated 
and  explained  in  another  work.*  But  when  the 
wants  and  desires  of  men  multiplied,  and  they  found 
that  other  countries  could  furnish  the  means  of  sup- 
plying and  gratifying  them,  the  hostile  sentiments 
which  kept  nations  at  a  distance  from  each  other 
abated,  and  mutual  correspondence  gradually  took 
place.  From  the  time  of  the  crusades,  which  first 
brought  people  hardly  known  to  one  another,  to 
associate,  and  to  act  in  concert  during  two  cen- 
turies, in  pursuit  of  one  common  end,  several  cir- 
cumstances had  co-operated  towards  accelerating 
this  geneneral  intercourse.  The  people  around  the 
Baltic,  hitherto  dreaded  and  abhorred  by  the  rest 
of  Europe  as  pirates  and  invaders,  assumed  more 
pacific  manners,  and  began  now  to  visit  their  neigh- 
bours as  merchants.  Occurrences  foreign  from 
the  subject  of  the  present  inquiry,  united  them  to- 
gether in  the  powerful  commercial  confederacy  so 
famous  in  the  middle  ages,  under  the  name  of  the 
Hanseatic  league,  and  led  them  to  establish  the 
staple  of  their  trade  with  the  southern  parts  of  Eu- 
rope in  Bruges.  Thither  the  merchants  of  Italy 
particularly  these  of  Venice,  resorted ;  and  in  re- 
turn for  the  productions  of  the  East,  and  the  manu- 
factures of  their  own  country,  they  received  not 
only  the  naval  stores  and  other  commodities  of  the 
North,  but  a  considerable  supply  of  gold  and  silver 
from  the  mines  in  various  provinces  of  Germany, 
the  most  valuable  and  productive  of  any  known  at 

*  Hist  of  Charles  V,  vol.  i.p.  92.  291,  &c. 


SECT.  in.     CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.          131 

that  time  in  Europe.*  Bruges  continued  to  be  the 
great  mart  or  storehouse  of  European  trade  during 
the  period  to  which  my  inquiries  extend.  A  regu- 
lar communication,  formerly  unknown,  was  kept 
up  there  among  all  the  kingdoms  into  which  our 
continent  is  divided,  and  we  are  enabled  to  account 
for  the  rapid  progress  of  the  Italian  states  in  wealth 
and  power,  by  observing  how  much  their  trade,  the 
source  from  which  both  were  derived,  must  have 
augmented  upon  the  vast  increase  in  the  consump- 
tion of  Asiatic  goods,  when  all  the  extensive  coun- 
tries towards  the  north-east  of  Europe  were  opened 
for  their  reception. 

During  this  prosperous  and  improving  state  of 
Indian  commerce,  Venice  received  from  one  of  its 
citizens  such  new  information  concerning  the  coun- 
tries which  produced  the  precious  commodities  that 
formed  the  most  valuable  article  of  its  trade,  as  gave 
an  idea  of  their  opulence,  their  population,  and  their 
extent,  which  rose  far  above  all  the  former  concep- 
tions of  Europeans.  From  the  time  that  the  Maho- 
medans  became  masters  of  Egypt,  as  no  Christian 
was  permitted  to  puss  through  their  dominions  to 
the  East,f  the  direct  intercourse  of  Europeans  with 
India  ceased  entirely.  The  account  of  India  by 
Cosmas  Indicopleustes  in  the  sixth  century,  is,  as 
far  as  I  know,  the  last  which  the  nations  of  the  West 

*  Zimmerman's  Polit,  Survey  of  Europe,  p.  1Q2 
,  23, 


132  AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION  SECT.  m. 

received  from  any  person  who  had  visited  that  conn- 
try.  But  about  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century, 
the  spirit  of  commerce,  now  become  more  enter- 
prising, and  more  eager  to  discover  new  routes  which 
led  to  wealth,  induced  Marco  Polo,  a  Venetian  of  a 
noble  family,  after  trading  for  some  time  in  many  of 
the  opulent  cities  of  the  lesser  Asia,  to  penetrate  in- 
to the  more  eastern  parts  of  that  continent,  as  far  as 
to  the  court  of  the  great  khan  on  the  frontier  of 
China.  During  the  course  of  twenty-six  years 
partly  employed  in  mercantile  transactions,  and 
partly  in  conducting  negotiations  with  which  the 
great  khan  intrusted  him,  he  explored  many 
regions  of  the  East  which  no  European  had  ever 
visited. 

He  describes  the  great  kingdom  of  Cathay,  the 
name  by  which  China  is  still  known  in  many  parts 
of  the  East,*  and  travelled  through  it  from  Cham- 
balu,  or  Peking,  on  its  northern  frontier,  to  some 
of  its  most  southern  provinces.  He  visited  different 
parts  of  Indostan,  and  is  the  first  who  mentions 
Bengal  and  Guzzerat,  by  their  present  names,  as 
great  and  opulent  kingdoms.  Besides  what  he  dis- 
covered on  his  journies  by  land,  he  made  more  than 
one  voyage  in  the  Indian  ocean,  and  acquired  some 
information  concerning  an  island  which  he  calls 
Zipangri  or  Cipango,  probably  Japan.  He  visited 

*  Herbelot  Bib.  Orient,  artic.  Khathai.  Stewart,  Account 
of  Thibet,  Phil.  Trans.  Ixvii.  474.  Voyage  of  A.  Jinkinson3 
Hakluyt.  i.  333. 


SECT.  in.  CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.  133 

in  person  Java,  Sumatra,  and  severel  islands  conti- 
guous to  them,  the  island  of  Ceylon,  and  the  coast 
of  Malabar,  as  far  as  the  the  gulf  of  Cambay,  to  all 
which  he  gives  the  names  that  they  now  bear. 
This  was  the  most  extensive  survey  hitherto  made 
of  the  East,  and  the  most  complete  description  of  it 
ever  given  by  any  European  ;  and,  in  an  age  which 
had  hardly  any  knowledge  of  those  regions  but 
what  was  derived  from  the  geography  of  Ptolemy, 
not  only  the  Venetians,  but  all  the  people  of  Eu- 
rope, were  astonished  at  the  discovery  of  immense 
countries  open  to  their  view  beyond  what  had  hither* 
to  been  reputed  the  utmost  boundary  of  the  earth  in 
that  quarter.* 

But  while  men  of  leisure  and  speculation  occu- 
pied themselves  with  examining  the  discoveries  of 
Marco  Polo,  which  gave  rise  to  conjectures  and 
theories,  productive  of  most  important  consequences; 
an  event  happened,  that  drew  the  attention  of  all 
Europe,  and  had  a  most  conspicuous  effect  upon 
the  course  of  that  trade,  the  progress  of  which  I  am 
endeavouring  to  trace. 

The  event  to  which  I  allude,  is  the  final  con- 
quest of  the  Greek  empire  by  Mahomet  II.  A.  D. 
1453.  and  the  establishing  the  seat  of  the  Turkish 
government  in  Constantinople.  The  immediate 
effect  of  this  great  revolution  was,  that  the  Genoese 
residing  in  Pera,  involved  in  the  general  calamity, 

*  See  NOTE  XLVIII. 


>34        AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION      SECT,  m.- 

were  obliged  not  only  to  abandon  that  settlement, 
but  all  those  which  they  had  made  on  the  adjacent 
sea  coast,  after  they  had  been  in  their  possesion  near 
two  centuries.  Not  long-  after,  the  victorious  arms 
of  the  sultan  expelled  them  from  Caffa,  A.  D  1474. 
and  every  other  place  which  they  held  in  the  Crimea.* 
Constantinople  was  no  longer  a  mart  open  to  the  na- 
tions of  the  West  for  Indian  commodities,  and  no 
supply  of  them  could  now  be  obtained  but  in 
Egypt  and  the  ports  of  Syria,  subject  to  the  sol- 
dans  of  the  Mameluks.  The  Venetians,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  protection  and  privileges  which 
they  had  secured  by  their  commercial  treaty 
with  those  powerful  princes,  carried  on  trade  in 
every  part  of  their  dominions  with  such  advantage, 
as  gave  them  a  superiority  over  every  com- 
petitor. Genoa,  which  had  long  been  their  most 
formidable  rival,  humbled  by  the  loss  of  its  posses- 
sions in  the  East,  and  weakened  by  domestic  dis- 
sensions, declined  so  fast,  that  it  was  obliged  to 
court  foreign  protection,  and  submitted  alternately 
to  the  dominion  of  the  dukes  of  Milan  and  the 
kings  of  France.  In  consequence  of  this  diminu- 
tion of  their  political  power,  the  commercial  exer- 
tions of  the  Genoese  became  less  vigorous.  A 
feeble  attempt  which  they  made  to  recover  that 
share  of  the  Indian  trade  which  they  had  formerly 
enjoyed,  by  offering  to  enter  into  treaty  with  the 


*  Folieta  Hist,  Germ.  602,  626.    Murat.  Annali  d'ltal.  ixt 
451. 


SILCT.  in,        CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA,        l&s 

soldans  of  Egypt  upon  terms  similar  to  those  which 
had  been  granted  to  the  Venetians,  proved  unsuc- 
cessful ;  and  during  the  remainder  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  Venice  supplied  the  greater  part  of  Europe 
with  the  productions  of  the  East,  and  carried  on 
trade  to  an  extent  far  beyond  what  had  been  known 
in  those  times. 

The  state  of  the  other  European  nations  was  ex- 
tremely favourable  to  the  commercial  progress  of 
the  Venetians.  England,  desolated  by  the  civil 
wars  which  the  unhappy  contest  between  the  houses 
of  York  and  Lancaster  excited,  had  hardly  begun 
to  turn  its  attention  towards  those  objects  and  pur- 
suits  to  which  it  is  indebted  for  its  present  opulence 
and  power.  In  France,  the  fatal  effects  of  the 
English  arms  and  conquests  were  still  felt,  and 
the  king  had  neither  acquired  power,  nor  the  peo- 
ple inclination,  to  direct  the  national  genius  and 
activity  to  the  arts  of  peace.  The  union  of  the 
different  kingdoms  of  Spain  was  not  yet  complettd ; 
some  of  its  most  fertile  provinces  were  still  under 
the  dominion  of  the  Moors,  with  whom  the  Spanish 
monarchs  waged  perpetual  war ;  and,  except  by 
the  Catalans,  little  attention  was  paid  to  foreign 
trade.  Portugal,  though  it  had  already  entered 
upon  that  career  of  discovery  which  terminated 
with  most  splendid  success,  had  not  yet  made  such 
progress  in  it  as  to  be  entitled  to  any  high  rank 
among  the  commercial  states  of  Europe.  Thus  the 
Venetians,  almost  without  rival  or  competitor,  ex- 
cept from  some  of  the  inferior  Italian  states,  were 


136          AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION    SECT,  m, 

left  at  liberty  to  concert  and  to  execute  their  mer- 
cantile plans ;  and  their  trade  with  the  cities  of  the 
Hanseatic  league,  which  united  the  north  and  south 
of  Europe,  and  which  hitherto  had  been  common  to 
all  the  Italians,  was  now  engrossed,  in  a  great  mea- 
sure, by  them  alone. 

While  the   increasing  demand   for   the  produc- 
tions of  Asia  induced  all  the  people  of  Europe  to 
court  intercourse  with  the  Venetians  so  eagerly,  as 
to  allure  them  by  various  immunities,  to  frequent 
their  seaports,  we  may  observe  a  peculiarity  in  their 
mode  of  carrying  on  trade  with  the  East,  which 
distinguishes  it  from  what  has  taken  place  in  other 
countries  in  any  period  of  history.     In  the  ancient 
world,  the  Tyrians,  the  Greeks  who  were  masters 
of  Egypt,  and  the  Romans,  sailed  to  India  in  quest 
of  those  commodities  with  which  they  supplied  the 
people  of  the  West.     In  modern  times,  the  same 
has  been  the  practice  of  the  Portuguese,  the  Dutch, 
the  English,  and  after  their  example,  of  other  Eu- 
ropean nations.     In  both  periods  loud  complaints 
have  been  made,  that  in  carrying  on  this  trade  every 
state  must  be  drained  of  the  precious  metals,  which, 
in  the  course  of  it  flow  incessantly  from  the  West  to 
the    East,    never  to  return.     From   whatever  loss 
might  have  been  occasioned  from  this  gradual,  but 
unavoidable  diminution  of  their  gold  and  silver, 
(whether  a  real  or  only  an  imaginary  loss,  it  is  not 
incumbent  upon  me  in  this  place  to  inquire  or  to 
determine,)  the  Venetians  were,  in  a  great  measure, 
exempted.     They  had  no  direct  intercourse  with 


SECT.  in.    CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.  137 

India.  They  found  in  Egypt,  or  in  Syria,  ware- 
houses filled  with  all  the  commodities  of  the  East, 
imported  by  the  Mahomedans  ;  and  from  the  best 
accounts  we  have,  with  respect  to  the  nature  of  their 
trade,  they  purchased  them  more  frequently  by  bar. 
ter,  than  with  ready  money.  Egypt,  the  chief  mart 
for  Indian  goods,  though  a  most  fertile  country,  is 
destitute  of  many  things  requisite  in  an  improved 
state  of  society,  either  for  accommodation  or  fqr 
ornament.  Too  limited  in  extent,  and  too  highly- 
cultivated  to  afford  space  for  forests ;  too  level  to 
have  mines  of  the  useful  metals  ;  it  must  be  sup* 
plied  with  timber  for  building,  with  iron,  lead,  tin, 
and  brass,  by  importation  from  other  countries. 
The  Egyptians,  while  under  the  dominion  of  the 
Mameluks,  seem  not  themselves  to  have  traded  in 
the  ports  of  any  Christian  state,  and  it  was  princi- 
pally from  the  Venetians,  that  they  received  all  the 
articles  which  I  have  enumerated.  Besides  these, 
the  ingenuity  of  the  Venetian  artists  furnished  a 
variety  of  manufactures  of  woollen  cloths,  silk 
stuffs  of  various  fabric,  camblets,  mirrors,  arms, 
ornaments  of  gold  and  silver,  glass,  and  many 
other  articles,  for  all  which  they  found  a  ready 
market  in  Egypt  and  Syria.  In  return  they  re- 
ceived from  the  merchants  of  Alexandria,  spices  of 
every  kind,  drugs,  gems,  pearls,  ivory,  cotton  and 
silk,  un wrought  as  well  as  manufactured,  in 
many  different  forms,  and  other  productions  of  the 
East,  together  with  several  valuable  articles  of 
Egyptian  growth  or  fabric.  In  Aleppo,  Baruth, 
ar$  other  cities,  besides  the  proper  commodities  of 

T 


138  AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION   SECT.III. 

India  brought  thither  by  land,  they  added  to  their 
cargoes  the  carpets  of  Persia,  the  rich  wrought  silks 
of  Damascus,  still  known  by  the  name  taken  from 
that  city,  and  various  productions  of  art  and  nature 
peculiar  to  Syria,  Palestine,  and  Arabia.  If,  at  any 
time,  their  demand  for  the  productions  of  the 
East  went  beyond  what  they  could  procure  in  ex- 
change for  their  own  manufactures,  that  trade  with 
the  cities  of  the  Hanseatic  league,  which  I  have  men- 
tioned, furnished  them  from  the  mines  of  Germany, 
with  a  regular  supply  of  gold  and  silver,  which  they 
could  carry,  with  advantage,  to  the  markets  of  Egypt 
and  Syria. 

From  a  propensity,  remarkable  in  all  commercial 
states,  to  subject  the  operations  of  trade  to  political 
regulation  and  restraint,  the  authority  of  the  Vene- 
tian government  seems  to  have  been  interposed, 
both  in  directing  the  importation  of  Asiatic  goods, 
^nd  in  the  mode  of  circulating  them  among  the 
different  nations  of  Europe.  To  every  considera- 
ble staple  in  the  Mediterranean  a  certain  number  of 
large  vessels,  known  by  the  name  of  galeons  or 
caracks.  was  fitted  out  on  the  public  account,  and 
returned  loaded  with' the  richest  merchandise,*  the 
profit  arising  from  the  sale  of  which  must  have  been 
no  slender  addition  to  the  revenue  of  the  republic. 
Citizens,  however,  of  every  class,  particularly  per- 
s  of  noble  families,  were  encouraged  to  engage 


*  Sabellicus,  Hist.  Her.  Venet.  Dec.  iv.  lib.  iii.  p.  868. 
Dq.nini  Revol.  d'ltalie,  torn.  vi.  340, 


SE.CT.  in.    CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.  139 

in  foreign  trade,  and  whoever  employed  a  vessel  of 
a  certain  burthen  for  this  purpose,  received  a  con- 
siderable bounty  from  the  state.*  It  was  in  the 
same  manner,  partly  in  ships  belonging  to  the  pub- 
lic, and  partly  in  those  of  private  traders,  that  the 
Venetians  circulated  through  Europe  the  goods  im- 
ported from  the  East,  as  well  as  the  produce  of  their 
own  dominions  and  manufactures. 

There  are  two  different  ways  by  which  we  may 
come  at  some  knowledge  of  the  magnitude  of  those 
branches  of  commerce  carried  on  by  the  Venetians, 
The  one,  by  attending  to  the  great  variety  and  high 
value  of  the  commodities^Hiich  they  imported  into 
Bruges,  the  storehouse  from  which  the  more  nor- 
thern nations  of  Europe  were  supplied.  A  full 
enumeration  of  these  is  given  by  a  well-informed 
author,  in  which  is  contained  almost  every  article 
deemed  in  that  age  essential  to  accommodation  or  to 
elegance. f  The  other,  by  considering  the  effects 
of  the  Venetian  trade  upon  the  cities  admitted  to  a 
participation  of  its  advantages.  Never  did  wealth 
appear  more  conspicuously  in  the  train  of  com- 
merce. The  citizens  of  Bruges,  enriched  by  it,  dis- 
played in  their  dress,  their  buildings,  and  mode  of 
living,  such  magnificence  as  even  to  mortify  the 
pride  and  excite  the  envy  of  royalty.J  Antwerp^ 
when  the  staple  was  removed  thither,  soon  rivalled 


*SandiStor.  Ciu.  Venez.  lib.  viii.  891. 
t  Lud.  Guicciardini  Descript,  de  Paesi  Bassj,  p.  173. 
See  NOTE  XLIX, 


140  AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION    SECT.  in. 

Bruges  in  opulence  and  splendour.  In  some  cities 
of  Germany,  particularly  in  Augsburg,  the  great 
mart  for  Indian  commodities  in  the  interior  parts  of 
that  extensive  country,  we  meet  with  early  examples 
of  such  large  fortunes  accumulated  by  mercantile- 
industry,  as  raised  the  proprietors  of  them  to  high 
rank  and'consideration  in  the  empire. 

From  observing  this  remarkable  increase  of  opu- 
lence in  all  the  places  where  the  Venetians  had  an 
established  trade,  we  are  led  to  conclude,   that  the 
profit  accruing  to  themselves  from  the  different  bran- 
ches of  it,  especially  that  with  the  East,  must  have 
been  still  more  considerable.  It  is  impossible,  how- 
ever, without  information  much  more  minute  than 
that  to  which  we  have  access,  to  form  an  estimate 
of  this  with  accuracy  ;   but  various  circumstances 
may  be  produced  to  establish,  in  general,   the  just- 
ness of  this  conclusion.     From  the  first  revival  of  a 
commercial  spirit  in  Europe,  the    Venetians   pos- 
sessed a  large  share  of  the  trade  with  the  East.     It 
continued  gradually  to  increase,  and  during  a  great 
part  of  the  fifteenth  century,  they  had  nearly  a  mo- 
nopoly of  it.     This  was  productive  of  consequences 
attending  all  monopolies.     Wherever  there  is  no 
competition,  and  the  merchant  has  it  in  his  power 
to  regulate  the  market,  and  to  fix  the  price  of  the 
commodities  which  he  vends,  his  gains  will  be  ex- 
orbitant.    Some   idea  of  their  magnitude,   during 
several  centuries,  may  be  formed  by  attending  to 
the  rate  of  the  premium  or  interest  then  paid  for 
the  use  of  money.     This  is  undoubtedly  the  most 


SECT.  in.    CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.  14! 

exact  standard  by  which  to  measure  the  profit  arising 
from  the  capital  stock  employed  in  commerce  ;  for, 
according  as  the  interest  of  money  is  high  or  low, 
the  gain  acquired  by  the  use  of  it  must  vary,  and 
become  excessive  or  moderate.     From  the  close  o£ 
the  eleventh  century  to  the  commencement  of  the 
sixteenth,  the  period  during  which  the  Italians  made 
their  chief  commercial  exertions,  the  rate  of  interest 
was  extremely  high.     It  was  usually   twenty   per 
cent,  sometimes  above  that ;  and  so  late  as  the  year 
one  thousand  five  hundred,  it  had  not  sunk  below 
ten  or  twelve  per  cent,  in  any  part  of  Europe.*     If 
the  profits  of  a  trade  so  extensive  as  that  of  the 
Venetians  corresponded  to  this  high  value  of  money, 
it  could  not  fail  of  proving  a  source  of  great  wealth, 
both  public  and  private,  f    The  condition  of  Venice, 
accordingly,  during  the  period  under  review,  is  de- 
scribed by  writers  of  that  age,  in  terms  which  are 
not  applicable  to  that  of  any  other  country  in  Eu- 
rope.    The  revenues  of  the  republic,  as  well  as  the 
wealth  amassed  by  individuals,  exceeded  whatever 
was  elsewhere  known.     In  the  magnificence  of  their 
houses,   in  richness  of  furniture,  in  profusion   of 
plate,  and  in  every  thing  which  contributed  either 
towards  elegance  or  parade  in  their  mode  of  living, 
the  nobles  of  Venice  surpassed  the  state  of  the  great- 
est monarchs  beyond  the  Alps.     Nor  was  all  this 
display  the  effect  of  an  ostentatious  and  inconsider- 
ate dissipation,   it  was  the  natural  consequence^of 

*  Hist,  of  Charles  V.  vol.i.  p.  401.  &c 
t  ?ee  NOTE  L. 


142       AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION        SECT,  m, 

successful  industry,  which,  having  accumulated 
wealth  with  ease,  is  entitled  to  enjoy  it  in  splen- 
dour.* 

Never   did  the   Venetians  believe  the  power  of 
their  country  to  be  more  firmly  established,  or  rely 
with  greater  confidence  on  the  continuance  and  in- 
crease of  its  opulence,  than  towards  the  close  of  the 
fifteenth  century,   when  two  events    (which    they 
could  neither  foresee  nor  prevent)  happened,   that 
proved  fatal  to  both.     The  one  was  the  discovery 
of  America.     The  other  was  the  o'pening  a  direct 
course  of  navigation  to  the  East  Indies  by  the  cape 
of  Good  Hope.     Of  all  occurrences  in  the  history 
of  the  human  race,  these  are  undoubtedly  among 
the  most  interesting ;  and  as  they  occasioned  a  re- 
markable  change  of  intercourse  among  the  different 
quarters  of  the  globe,  and  finally  established  those 
commercial  ideas  and  arrangements  which  consti- 
tute the  chief  distinction  between  the  manners  and 
policy  of  ancient  and  of  modern  times,  an  account 
of  them  is  intimately  connected  with  the  subject  of 
this  Disquisition,  and  will  bring  it  to  that  period 
which  I  have  fixed  upon  for  its  boundary.     But  as 
I  have  related  the  rise  and  progress  of  these  disco- 
veries at  great  length  in  another  work,f   a  rapid 
view  of  them  is  all  that  is  requisite  in  this  place. 
The  admiration  or  envy  with  which  the  other  na- 
tions of  Europe  beheld  the  power  and  wealth  of  Ve- 

*  See  NOTE  LI. 

*  Hist,  of  America,  Books  I.  and  II 


SECT.  in.    CONCERNING  ANCIENT   INDIA.          [  US 

nice,  led  them  naturally  to  inquire  into  the  causes  of 
this  pre-eminence ;  arid  among  these,  its  lucrative 
commerce  with  the  East  appeared  to  be  by  far  the 
most  considerable.  Mortified  with  being  excluded 
from  a  source  of  opulence,  which  to  the  Venetians 
had  proved  so  abundant,  different  countries  had 
attempted  to  acquire  a  share  of  the  Indian  trade. 
Some  of  the  Italian  states  endeavoured  to  obtain 
admission  into  the  ports  of  Egypt  and  Syria,  upon 
the  same  terms  with  the  Venetians ;  but  either  by 
the  superior  interest  of  the  Venetians  in  the  court 
of  the  soldans,  their  negotiations  for  that  purpose 
were  rendered  unsuccessful ;  or  from  the  manifold 
advantages  which  merchants,  long  in  possession  of 
any  branch  of  trade,  have  in  a  competition  with  new^ 
adventurers,  all  their  exertions  did  not  produce 
effects  of  any  consequence.*  In  other  countries, 
various  schemes  were  formed  with  the  same  view. 
As  early  as  the  year  one  thousand  four  hundred  and 
eighty,  the  inventive  and  enterprising  genius  of 
Columbus  conceived  the  idea  of  opening  a  shorter 
and  more  certain  communication  with  India,  by 
holding  a  direct  westerly  course  towards  those  re- 
gions, which,  according  to  Marco  Polo  and  other 
travellers,  extended  eastward  far  beyond  the  utmost 
limits  of  Asia  known  to  the  Greeks  or  Romans. 
This  scheme,  supported  by  arguments  deduced 
from  a  scientific  acquaintance  with  cosmography, 
from  his  own  practical  knowledge  of  navigation, 
from  the  reports  of  skilful  pilots,  and  from  the 

*  See  NOTE  LII. 


144          AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION      SECT,  in, 

theories  and  conjectures  of  the  ancients,  he  pro- 
posed first  to  the  Genoese  his  countrymen,  and 
next  to  the  king  of  Portugal,  into  whose  service 
he  had  entered.  It  was  rejected  by  the  former 
from  ignorance,  and  by  the  latter  with  circumstan- 
ces most  humiliating  to  a  generous  mind.  By  per- 
se verance,  however,  and  address,  he  at  length  in- 
duced the  most  wary  and  least  adventurous  court 
in  Europe  to  undertake  the  execution  of  his  plan  ; 
and  Spain,  as  the  reward  of  this  deviation  from  its 
usual  cautious  maxims,  had  the  glory  of  discover- 
ing a  new  world,  hardly  inferior  in  magnitude  to  a 
third  part  of  the  habitable  globe.  Astonishing  as  the 
success  of  Columbus  was,  it  did  not  fully  accom- 
plish his  own  wishes,  or  conduct  him  to  those  re- 
gions of  the  East,  the  expectation  of  reaching 
which  was  the  original  object  of  his  voyage.  The 
effects,  however,  of  his  discoveries  were  great  and 
extensive.  By  giving  Spain  the  possession  of 
immense  territories,  abounding  in  rich  mines,  and 
many  valuable  productions  of  nature,  several  of 
which  had  hitherto  been  deemed  peculiar  to  India, 
wealth  began  to  flow  so  copiously  into  that  king- 
dom, and  thence  was  so  diffused  over  Europe,  as 
gradually  awakened  a  general  spirit  of  industry, 
and  called  forth  exertions  which  alone  must  have 
soon  turned  the  course  of  commerce  into  new 
channels. 

But  this  was  accomplishhd  more  speedily,  as 
well  as  more  completely,  by  the  other  great  event 
which  I  mentioned,  the  discovery  of  a  new  route  of 
navigation  to  the  East  by  the  cape  of  Good  Hope, 


SECT.  in.    CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA,  145 

when  the  Portuguese,  to  whom  mankind  are  indebt. 
ed  for  opening  this  communication  between  the 
most  remote  parts  of  the  habitable  globe,  undertook 
their  first  voyage  of  discovery,  it  is  probable  that 
they  had  nothing  farther  in  view  than  to  explore 
those  parts  of  the  coast  of  Africa  which  lay  nearest 
to  their  own  country.  But  a  spirit  of  enterprise, 
when  roused  and  put  in  motion,  is  always  progres- 
sive ;  and  that  of  the  Portuguese,  though  slow  and 
timid  in  its  first  operations,  gradually  acquired  vi- 
gour, and  prompted  them  to  advance  along  the  west- 
ern shore  of  the  African  continent,  far  beyond  the 
utmost  boundary  of  ancient  navigation  in  that  direc- 
tion. Encouraged  by  success,  this  spirit  became 
more  adventurous,  despised  dangers  which  formerly 
appalled  it,  and  surmounted  difficulties  which  it 
once  deemed  insuperable.  When  the  Portuguese 
found  in  the  torrid  zone,  which  the  ancients  had 
pronounced  to  be  uninhabitable,  fertile  countries, 
occupied  by  numerous  nations  ;  and  perceived  that 
the  continent  of  Africa,  instead  of  extending  in 
breadth  towards  the  West,  according  to  the  opinion 
of  Ptolemy,  appeared  to  contract  itself  and  to  bend 
eastwards,  more  extensive  prospects  opened  to  their 
view,  and  inspired  them  with  hopes  of  reaching  In- 
dia, by  continuing  to  hold  the  same  course  which 
they  had  so  long  pursued. 

After  several  unsuccessful  attempts  to  accom- 
plish what  they  had  in  view,  a  small  squadron  sail- 
ed from  the  Tagus,  under  the  command  of  Vagco 
de  Gama,  an  officer  of  rank,  whose  abilities  and 

TI 


146          AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION.      SECT.  nj. 

courage  fitted  him  to  conduct  the  most  difficult 
and  arduous  enterprises.  From  unacquaintance, 
however,  with  the  proper  season  and  route  of  navi- 
gation in  that  vast  ocean  through  which  he  had  to 
steer  his  course,  his  voyage  was  long  and  danger- 
ous. At  length  he  doubled  that  promontory, 
which  for  several  years  had  been  the  object  of  ter- 
ror and  of  hope  to  his  countrymen.  From  that, 
after  a  prosperous  navigation  along  the  south-east 
of  Africa,  he  arrived  at  the  city  of  Melinda,  and 
had  the  satisfaction  of  discovering  there,  as  well  as 
at  other  places  where  he  touched,  people  of  a  race 
very  different  from  the  rude  inhabitants  of  the 
western  shore  of  that  continent,  which  alone  the 
Portuguese  had  hitherto  visited.  These  he  found 
to  be  so  far  advanced  in  civilization,  and  ac- 
quaintance with  the  various  arts  of  life,  that  they 
carried  on  an  active  commerce,  not  only  with  the 
nations  on  their  own  coast,  but  with  remote  coun- 
tries of  Asia.  Conducted  by  their  pilots  (who  held 
a  course  with  which  their  experience  had  rendered 
them  well  acquainted;  he  sailed  across  the  Indian 
ocean,  and  landed  at  Calecut,  on  the  coast  of  Mala- 
bar, on  the  twenty-second  of  May,  one  thousand 
four  hundred  and  ninety- eight,  ten  months  and  two 
days  after  his  departure  from  the  port  of  Lisbon. 

The  samorin,  or  monarch  of  the  country,  aston- 
ished at  this  unexpected  visit  of  an  unknown  people, 
whose  aspect,  and  arms,  and  manners,  bore  no  re- 
semblance to  any  of  the  nations  accustomed  to  fre- 


SECT.  in.        CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.         ur 

quent  his  harbours,  and  who  arrived  in  his  domi- 
nions by  a  route  hitherto  deemed  impracticable  re- 
ceived them,  at  first,  with  that  fond  admiration 
which  is  often  excited  by  novelty.  But  in  a  short 
time,  as  if  he  had  been  inspired  with  foresight  of 
all  the  calamities  now  approaching  India  by  this 
fatal  communication  opened  with  the  inhabitants  of 
Europe,  he  formed  various  schemes  to  cut  off  Ga- 
ma  and  his  followers.  But  from  every  danger  to 
which  he  was  exposed,  either  by  the  open  attacks  or 
secret  machinations  of  the  Indians,  the  Portuguese 
admiral  extricated  himself  with  singular  prudence 
and  intrepidity,  and  at  last  sailed  from  Calecut  with 
his  ships  loaded,  not  only  with  the  commodities  pe- 
culiar to  that  coast,  but  with  many  of  the  rich  pro- 
ductions of  the  eastern  parts  of  India. 

On  his  return  to  Lisbon,  he  was  received  with 
the  admiration  and  gratitude  due  to  a  man,  who  by 
his  superior  abilities  and  resolution,  had  conducted 
to  such  an  happy  issue  an  undertaking  of  the  great- 
est importance,  which  had  long  occupied  the 
thoughts  of  his  sovereign,  and  excited  the  hopes 
of  his  fellow- subjects.*  Nor  did  this  event  inter- 
est  the  Portuguese  alone.  No  nation  in  Europe 
beheld  it  with  unconcern.  For  although  the  dis- 
covery of  a  new  world,  whether  we  view  it  as  a 
display  of  genius  in  the  person  who  first  conceived 
an  idea  of  that  undertaking  which  led  mankind 

*  Asia  de  Joaode  Barros,  dec.  i.  lib.  iv.  e.  1 1.       Castagne- 
da,Hist.  de  1'Inde  trad,  ei\  Francois,  liv.  i.  c.  2—28. 


148         AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION 

to  the  knowledge  of  it,  whether  we  contemplate  its 
influence  upon  science  by  giving  a  more  complete 
knowledge  of  the  globe  which  we  inhabit,  or  whe- 
ther we  consider  its  effects  upon  the  commercial  in- 
tercourse of  mankind,  be  an  event  far  more  splendid 
than  the  voyage  of  Gama,  yet  the  latter  seems  origi- 
nally to  have  excited  more  general  attention.     The 
former,  indeed,  filled  the  minds  of  men  with  aston- 
ishment ;  it  was  some  time,  however,   before  they 
attained  such  a  sufficient  knowledge  of  that  portion 
of  the  earth  now  laid  open  to  their  view,  as  to  form 
any  just  idea,  or  even  probable  conjecture,  with  re- 
spect to  what  might  be  the  consequences  of  com- 
munication with  it.     But  the  immense  value  of  the 
Indian  trade,  which  both  in  ancient  and  in  modern 
times  had  enriched  every  nation  by  which  it  was 
carried  on,  was  a  subject  familiar  to  the  thoughts 
of  all  intelligent  men,   and  they  at  once  perceived 
that  the  discovery  of  this  new  route  of  navigation  to 
the  East,  must  occasion  great  revolutions,  not  only 
in  the  course  of  commerce,  but  in  the  political  state 
of  Europe. 

What  these  revolutions  were  most  likely  to  i>e, 
and  how  they  would  operate,  were  points  examined 
with  particular  attention  in  the  cities  of  Lisbon  and 
of  Venice,  but  with  feelings  very  different.  The 
Portuguese,  founding  upon  the  rights  to  which,  in 
that  age,  priority  of  discovery,  confirmed  by  a  papal 
grant,  were  supposed  to  confer,  deemed  themselves 
entitled  to  a*n  exclusive  commerce  with  the  coun- 


SECT.  in.      CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.          149 

tries  which  they  had  first  visited,  began  to  enjoy, 
by  anticipation,  all  the  benefits  of  it,   and  to  fancy 
that  their  capital  would  soon  be  what  Venice  then 
was,  the  great  storehouse  of  eastern   commodities 
to  all  Europe,  and  the  seat  of  opulence  and  power, 
On  the  first  intelligence  of  Gama's  successful  voy- 
age, the  Venetians,  with  the  quick-sighted  discern- 
ment of  merchants,  foresaw  the  immediate  conse- 
quence of  it  to  be  the  ruin  of  that  lucrative  branch 
of  commerce  which  had  contributed  so  greatly  to 
enrich  and  aggrandize  their  country  ;   and  they  ob- 
served this  with  more  poignant  concern,  as  they 
were   apprehensive  that  they  did  not  possess  any 
effectual  means  of  preventing,  or  even  retarding,  its 
operation. 

The  hopes  and  fears  of  both  were  well  found- 
ed.    The  Portuguese  entered  upon  the  new  career 
opened  to  them  with  activity  and  ardour,  and  made 
exertions,  both  commercial  and  military,   far  be- 
yond   what  could    have    been    expected    from   a 
kingdom  of  such  inconsiderable  extent.     All  these 
were  directed  by  an  intelligent  monarch,  capable  of 
forming  plans  of  the  greatest  magnitude  with  calm 
systematic  wisdom,  and  of  prosecuting  them  with 
unremitting    perseverance.      The    prudence    and 
vigour  of  his  measures,  however,  would  have  avail- 
ed little  without  proper  instruments  to   carry  them 
into    execution.       Happily  for  Portugal,  the   dis- 
cerning eye  of  Emanuel  selected  a  succession  of 
officers  to  take  the  supreme  command  in  India, 


150          AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION    SECT,  irt, 

who,  by  their  enterprising  valour,  military  skill,  and 
political  sagacity,  accompanied  with  disinterested 
integrity,  public  spirit,  and  love  of  their  country, 
have  a  title  to  be  ranked  with  the  persons  most 
eminent  for  virtue  and  abilities  in  any  age  or  nation. 
Greater  things  perhaps  were  achieved  by  them, 
than  were  ever  accomplished  in  so  short  a  time. 
Before  the  close  of  Emanuel's  reign,  twenty-four 
years  only  after  the  voyage  of  Gama,  the  Portu- 
guese had  rendered  themselves  masters  of  the  city 
of  Malacca,  in  which  the  great  staple  of  trade  carried 
on  among  the  inhabitants  of  all  those  regions  in 
Asia,  which  Europeans  have  distinguished  by  the 
general  name  of  the  East- Indies,  was  then  establish- 
ed. To  this  port,  situated  nearly  at  an  equal  dis- 
tance from  the  eastern  and  western  extremities  of 
these  countries,  and  possessing  the  command  of 
that  strait  by  which  they  keep  communication 
with  each  other,  the  merchants  of  China,  of  Japan, 
of  every  kingdom  on  the  continent,  of  the  Mo- 
luccas and  all  the  islands  in  the  Archipelago,  re- 
sorted from  the  East  ;  and  those  of  Malabar,  of 
Ceylon,  of  Coromandel,  and  of  Beng-al,  from  the 
West.*  This  conquest  secured  to  the  Portuguese 
great  influence  over  the  interior  commerce  of  India, 
while,  at  the  same  time,  by  their  settlements  at 
Goa  and  Diu,  they  were  enabled  to  engross  the 
trade  of  the  Malabar  coast,  and  to  obstruct  greatly 
the  long-established  intercourse  of  Egypt  with  In- 

*  Decad.  de  Carres,  dec,  i.  Hv.   viii.  c.  1.    Osor.  de  reba 
Eman.  lib.  vii.  213,  &c. 


6ECT.  in.  CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.  151 

dia  by  the  Red  sea.  Their  ships  frequented  every 
port  in  the  East  where  valuable  commodities  were 
to  be  found,  from  the  cape  of  Good  Hope  to 
the  river  of  Canton;  and  along  this  immense 
stretch  of  coast,  extending  upwards  of  four  thou- 
sand leagues,  they  had  established  for  the  con- 
veniency  or  protection  of  trade,  a  chain  of  forts 
or  factories.  They  had  likewise  taken  possession 
of  stations  most  favourable  to  commerce  along  the 
southern  coast  of  Africa,  and  in  many  of  the 
islands  which  lie  between  Madagascar  and  the 
Moluccas,  In  every  part  of  the  East  they  were 
received  with  respect,  in  many  they  had  acquired 
the  absolute  command.  They  carried  on  trade 
there  without  rival  or  controul ;  they  prescribed  to 
the  natives  the  terms  of  their  mutual  intercourse ; 
they  often  set  what  price  they  pleased  on  goods 
which  they  purchased ;  and  were  thus  enabled  to 
import  from  Indostan  and  the  regions  beyond  it, 
whatever  is  useful,  rare,  or  agreeable,  in  greater 
abundance,  and  of  more  various  kinds,  than  had  been 
known  formerly  in  Europe. 

Not  satisfied  with  this  ascendant  which  they  had 
acquired  in  India,  the  Portuguese  early  formed  a 
scheme,  no  less  bold  than  interested,  of  excluding 
all  other  nations  from  participating  of  the  advan- 
tages of  commerce  with  the  East.  In  order  to 
effect  this,  it  was  necessary  to  obtain  possession  of 

*  Hist.  Gener,  des  Voyages,  torn,  i,  p.  140. 


152  AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION  SECT.  in. 

such  stations  in  the  -Arabian  and  Persian  gulfs,  as 
might  render  them  masters  of  the  navigation  of 
these  two  inland  seas,  and  enable  them  both  to 
obstruct  the  ancient  commercial  intercourse  be- 
tween Egypt  and  India,  and  to  command  the  en- 
trance of  the  great  rivers,  which  facilitated  the 
conveyance  of  Indian  goods,  not  only  through 
the  interior  provinces  of  Asia,  but  as  far  as  Con- 
stantinople. The  conduct  of  the  measures  for  this 
purpose  was  committed  to  Alphonso  Albuquerque, 
the  most  eminent  of  all  the  Portuguese  generals 
who  distinguished  themselves  in  India.  After  the 
utmost  efforts  of  genius  and  valour,  he  was  able 
to  accomplish  one-half  only  of  what  the  ambition  of 
his  countrymen  had  planned.  By  wresting  the 
island  of  Ormuz,  which  commanded  the  mouth 
of  the  Persian  gulf,  from  the  petty  princes,  who, 
as  tributaries  to  the  monarchs  of  Persia,  had  esta- 
blished their  dominion  there,  he  secured  to  Portia 
gal  that  extensive  trade  with  the  East,  which  the 
Persians  had  carried  on  for  several  centuries.  In 
the  hands  of  the  Portuguese,  Ormuz  soon  be- 
came the  great  mart  from  which  the  Persian  em- 
pire, and  all  the  provinces  of  Asia  to  the  west  of 
it,  were  supplied  with  the  productions  of  India ;  and 
a  city  which  they  built  on  that  barren  island,  des- 
titute of  water,  was  rendered  one  of  the  chief  seats 
of  opulence,  splendour,  and  luxury  in  the  Eastern 
World.* 

*  Osorius  de  reb.  gestis  Eman.  lib.  x.  p.  274.  &c.  Taver- 
iuer's  Travels,  book  v.  c.  23.  Kcempfer  Amicenit.  Exot.  p, 
756,  fcc. 


.  in,     CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.          153 

The  operations  of  Albuquerque  in  the  Red  sea 
were  far  from  being  attended  with  equal  success. 
Partly  by  the  vigorous  resistance  of  the  Arabian 
princes,  whose  ports  he  attacked,  and  partly  by  the 
damage  his  fleet  sustained  in  a  sea  of  which  the 
navigation  is  remarkably  difficult  and  dangerous, 
he  was  constrained  to  retire,  without  effecting  any 
settlement  of  importance.*  The  ancient  channel 
of  intercourse  with  India  by  the  Red  sea  still  con* 
tinued  open  to  the  Egyptians ;  but  their  com- 
mercial transactions  in  that  country  were  greatly 
circumscribed  and  obstructed,  by  the  influence 
which  the  Portuguese  had  acquired  in  every  port  to 
which  they  were  accustomed  to  resort. 

In  consequence  of  this,  the  Venetians  soon  be- 
gan to  feel  that  decrease  of  their  own  Indian 
trade  which  they  had  foreseen  and  dreaded.  In 
order  to  prevent  the  farther  progress  of  this  evil, 
they  persuaded  the  soldan  of  the  Mameluks,  equally 
alarmed  with  themselves  at  the  rapid  success  of  the 
Portuguese  in  the  East,  and  no  less  interested  to 
hinder  them  from  engrossing  that  commerce,  which 
had  so  long  been  the  chief  source  of  opulence 
both  to  the  monarchs  and  to  the  people  of  Egypt, 
to  enter  into  a  negotiation  with  the  pope  and  the 
king  of  Portugal.  The  tone  which  the  soldan 
assumed  in  this  negotiation  was  such  as  became 
the  fierce  chief  of  a  military  government.  After 
stating  his  exclusive  right  to  the  trade  with  IndiaA 


OsoriuS)  lib.  ix.  p.  248, 
X 


154        AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION       stcr.  iir 

he  forewarned  Julius  II.  and  Emanuel,  that  if  the 
Portuguese  did  not  relinquish  that  new  course  of 
navigation  by  which  they  had  penetrated  into  the 
Indian  ocean,  and  cease  from  encroaching  on  that 
commerce,  which  from  time  immemorial  had  been 
carried  on  between  the  East  of  Asia  and  his  domi- 
nions, he  would  put  to  death  all  the  Christians  in 
Egypt,  Syria,  and  Palestine,  burn  their  churches, 
and  demolish  the  holy  sepulchre  itself.*  This, 
formidable  threat,  which,  during  several  cen- 
turies, would  have  made  all  Christendom  tremble, 
seems  to  have  made  so  little  impression,  that  the 
Venetians,  as  the  last  expedient,  had  recourse  to 
u  measure  which,  in  that  age,  was  deemed  not 
only  reprehensible  but  impious.  They  incited  the 
soldan  to  fit  out  a  fleet  in  the  Red  sea,  and  to 
attack  those  unexpected  invaders  of  a  gainful  mono- 
poly, of  which  he  and  his  predecessors  had  long  en- 
joyed undisturbed  possession.  As  Egypt  did  not 
produce  timber  proper  for  building  ships  of  force 
the  Venetians  permitted  the  soldan  to  cut  it  in  their 
forests  of  Dalmatia,  whence  it  was  conveyed  to 
Alexandria,  and  then  carried  partly  by  water  and 
partly  by  land  to  Suez,  There  twelve  ships  of 
war  were  built,  on  board  of  which  a  body  of 
Mameluks  was  ordered  to  serve,  under  the  com- 
mand of  an  officer  of  merit.  These  new  enemies, 
far  more  formidable  than  the  natives  of  India  with 
whom  the  Portuguese  had  hitherto  contended,  they 

*  Osorius  de  rebus  Eman  lib.  iv.  p.  110.  edit,  1580.  Asia 
de  Barros,  decad.  i.  lib.  viii.  c.  2. 


SECT.  in.    CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.          155 

encountered  with  undaunted  courage,  and  after 
some  conflicts,  they  entirely  ruined  the  squadron,  and 
remained  masters  of  the  Indian  ocean.* 

Soon  after  this  disaster,  the  dominion  of  the 
Mameluks  was  overturned,  and  Egypt,  Syria,  and 
Palestine  were  subjected  to  the  Turkish  empire  by 
the  victorious  arms  of  Selim  I.  Their  mutual  in- 
terest quickly  induced  the  Turks  and  Venetians 
to  forget  ancient  animosities,  and  to  co-operate  to- 
wards the  ruin  of  the  Portuguese  trade  in  India. 
With  this  view  Selim  confirmed  to  the  Venetians 
the  extensive  commercial  privileges  which  they  had 
enjoyed  under  the  government  of  the  Mameluks, 
and  published  an  edict  permitting  the  free  entry  of 
all  the  productions  of  the  East,  imported  directly 
from  Alexandria,  into  every  part  of  his  dominions, 
and  imposing  heavy  duties  upon  such  as  were 
brought  from  Lisbon. f 

But  all  these  were  unavailing  efforts  against  the 
superior  advantages  which  the  Portuguese  possessed 
in  supplying  Europe  with  the  commodities  of  the 
East,  in  consequence  of  having  opened  a  new  mode 
of  communication  with  it.  At  the  same  time,  the 
Venetians,  brought  to  the  brink  of  ruin  by  the  fatal 
league  of  Cambray,  which  broke  the  power  and 
humbled  the  pride  of  the  republic,  were  incapable 


*  Asia  de  Barros,  dec.  ii.  lib.  ii.  c.  6.  Lasitau,  Hist,  de 
Decouvertes  des  Portugais,  i.  292,  &c.  Osor.  lib  iv.  p> 
120. 

t  SandiStor.  Civ.  Venez.  part.  ii.  901.  part  iii.  432, 


156      AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION        SECT.  HI. 

of  such  efforts  for  the  preservation  of  their  com- 
merce, as  they  might  have  made  in  the  more 
vigorous  age  of  their  government,  and  were  re- 
duced to  the  feeble  expedients  of  a  declining,  state. 
Of  this  there  is  a  remarkable  instance  in  an  offer 
made  by  them  to  the  king  of  Portugal,  in  the  year 
one  thousand  five  hundred  and  twenty-one,  to 
purchase,  at  a  stipulated  price,  all  the  spices  im- 
ported into  Lisbon,  over  and  above  what  might 
be  requisite  for  the  consumption  of  his  own  sub- 
jects. If  Emanuel  had  been  so  inconsiderate  as  to 
close  with  this  proposal,  Venice  would  have  re- 
covered all  the  benefit  of  the  gainful  monopoly 
which  she  had  lost.  But  the  offer  met  with  the 
reception  that  it  merited,  and  was  rejected  without 
hesitation.* 

The  Portuguese,  almost  without  obstruction, 
continued  their  progress  in  the  East,  until  they  esta- 
blished there  a  commercial  empire;  to  which, 
whether  we  consider  its  extent,  its  opulence,  the 
slender  power  by  which  it  was  formed,  or  the 
splendour  with  which  the  government  of  it  was 
conducted,  there  had  hitherto  been  nothing  com- 
parable in  the  history  of  nations.  Emanuel,  who 
laid  the  foundation  of  this  stupendous  fabric,  had 
the  satisfaction  to  see  it  almost  completed.  Every 
part  of  Europe  was  supplied  by  the  Portuguese 
with  the  productions  of  the  East;  and  if  we  ex- 
cept some  inconsiderable  quantity  of  them,  which 

*  Osor.  de  reb.  Eman.  lib.  xii.  265. 


SECT.  in.    CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.          157 

the  Venetians  still  continued  to  receive  by  the  an- 
cient channels  of  conveyance,  our  quarter  of  the 
globe,  had  no  longer  any  commercial  intercourse 
with  India,  and  the  regions  of  Asia  beyond  it,  but  by 
the  cape  of  Good  Hope 

Though  from  this  period  the  people  of  Europe 
have  continued  to  carry  on  their  trade  with  India 
by  sea,  yet  a  considerable  portion  of  the  valuable 
productions  of  the  East  is  still  conveyed  to  other 
regions  of  the  earth  by  land- carriage.  In  tracing 
the  progress  of  trade  with  India,  this  branch  of  it 
is  an  object  of  considerable  magnitude,  which 
has  not  been  examined  with  sufficient  attention. 
That  the  ancients  should  have  had  recourse  fre- 
quently to  the  tedious  and  expensive  mode  of  trans- 
porting goods  by  land,  will  not  appear  surprising, 
when  we  recollect  the  imperfect  state  of  naviga- 
tion among  them :  the  reason  of  this  mode  of 
conveyance  being  not  only  continued,  but  in- 
creased, in  modern  times,  demands  some  expla- 
nation. 

If  we  inspect  a  map  of  Asia,  we  cannot  fail  to 
observe,  that  the  communication  throughout  all  the 
countries  of  that  great  continent  to  the  wes't  of 
Indostan  and  China,  though  opened  in  some  de- 
gree towards  the  south  by  the  navigable  rivers, 
Euphrates  and  Tigris,  and  towards  the  north  by- 
two  inland  seas,  the  Euxine  and  Caspian,  must  be 
carried  on  in  many  extensive  provinces  wholly  by 
land.  This,  as  I  have  observed,  was  the  first  mode 


158          AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION     SECT,  m, 

of  intercourse  between  the  different  countries,  and 
during  the  infancy  of  navigation  it  was  the  only  one. 
Even  after  that  art  had  attained  some  degree  of  im- 
provement, the  conveyance  of  goods  by  the  two 
rivers  formerly  mentioned,  extended  so  little  way 
into  the  interior  country,  and  the  trade  of  the  Eux- 
ine  and  Caspian  seas  were  so  often  obstructed  by 
the  barbarous  nations  scattered  along  their  shores, 
that  partly  on  that  account,  and  partly  from  the  ad- 
herence of  mankind  to  ancient  habits,  the  commerce 
of  the  varions  provinces  of  Asia,  particularly  that 
with  India  and  the  regions  beyond  it,  continued  to 
be  conducted  by  land. 

The  same  circumstances  which  induced  the  in- 
habitants of  Asia  to  carry  on  such  a  considerable 
part  of  their  commerce  with  each  other  in  this 
manner  operated  with  still  more  powerful  effect  in 
Africa.  That  vast  continent,  which  little  resembles 
the  other  divisions  of  the  earth  is  not  penetrated 
with  inland  seas,  like  Europe  and  Asia,  or  by  a 
chain  of  lakes  like  North  America,  or  opened 
by  rivers  (the  Nile  alone  excepted)  of  extended 
navigation.  It  forms  one  uniform,  continuous 
surface,  between  the  various  parts  of  which  there 
could  be  no  intercourse  from  the  earliest  times, 
but  by  land.  Rude  as  all  the  people  of  Africa 
are,  and  slender  as  the  progress  is  which  they 
have  made  in  the  arts  of  life,  such  a  communica- 
tion appears  to  have  been  early  opened  and  always 
kept  up.  How  far  it  extended  in  the  more  early 
periods  to  which  my  researches  have  been  directed, 


SECT.  in.     CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.          159 

and  by  what  different  routes  it  was  carried  on,  I 
have  not  sufficient  information  to  determine  with 
accuracy.  It  is  highly  probable  that  from  time  im- 
memorial, the  gold,  the  ivory,  the  perfumes,  both  of 
the  southern  parts  of  Africa,  and  of  its  more  north- 
ern districts  were  conveyed  either  to  the  Arabian 
gulf,  or  to  Egypt,  and  exchanged  for  the  spices  and 
other  productions  of  the  East. 

The  Mahomedan  religion,  which  spread  with 
amazing  rapidity  over  all  Asia,  and  a  considerable 
part  of  Africa,  contributed  greatly  towards  the 
increase  of  commercial  intercourse  by  land  in 
both  these  quarters  of  the  globe,  and  has  given 
it  additional  vigour,  by  mingling  with  it  a  new 
principle  of  activity,  and  by  directing  it  to  a  com- 
mon centre.  Mahomet  enjoined  all  his  followers 
to  visit  once  in  their  lifetime,  the  Caaba,  or  square 
building  in  the  temple  of  Mecca,  the  immemorial 
object  of  veneration  among  his  countrymen,  not 
only  on  account  of  its  having  been  chosen  (ac- 
cording to  their  tradition)  to  be  the  residence 
of  man  at  his  creation,*  but  because  it  was  the 
first  spot  on  this  earth  which  was  consecrated 
to  the  worship  of  God  ;f  in  order  to  preserve  con- 
tinually upon  their  minds  a  sense  of  obligation 
to  perform  this  duty,  he  directed  that,  in  all 


#  Abul-Ghazi  Bayadur  Khan.  Hist.  General,  des  Ta- 
tars, p.  15. 

t  Ohsson  Tableau  General  de  1'Empire  Othoman,  torn, 
iii.  p.  150,  &c.  289.  e^it.  8vq. 


160        AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION     SECT,  nr, 

the  multiplied  acts  of  devotion  which  his  religion 
prescribes,  true  believers  should  always  turn  their 
faces  towards  that  holy  place.*  In  obedience  to 
a  precept  solemnly  enjoined  and  sedulously  incul- 
cated, large  caravans  of  pilgrims  assemble  annu- 
ally in  every  country  where  the  Mahomedau 
faith  is  established.  From  the  shores  of  the 
Atlantic  on  one  hand,  and  from  the  most  remote 
regions  of  the  East  on  the  other,  the  votaries 
of  the  prophet  advance  to  Mecca.  Commer- 
cial ideas  and  objects  mingle  with  those  of  devo- 
tion. The  numerous  camels  of  each  caravan  are 
loaded  with  those  commodities  of  every  country 
which  are  of  easiest  carriage  and  most  ready  sale. 
The  holy  city  is  crowded,  not  only  with  zealous 
devotees,  but  with  opulent  merchants.  During 
the  few  days  they  remain  there,  the  fair  of  Mecca 
is  the  greatest,  perhaps,  on  the  face  of  the  earth. 
Mercantile  transactions  are  carried  on  in  it  to 
an  immense  value,  of  which  the  despatch,  the 
silence,  the  mutual  confidence  and  good  faith 
in  conducting  them,  are  the  most  unequivocal 
proof.  The  productions  and  manufactures  of 
India  form  a  capital  article  in  this  great  traffic, 
and  the  caravans  on  their  return  disseminate  them 
through  every  part  of  Asia  and  Africa.  Some 
of  these  are  deemed  necessary,  not  only  to  the 
comfort,  but  to  the  preservation  of  life,  and 
others  contribute  to  its  elegance  and  pleasure, 

*  Herbelot  Biblioth.  Orient,  artic.  Caaba  &  Keblah, 
See  NOTE  LIII. 


SECT.  in.    CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.  ifll 

They  are  so  various  as  to  suit  the  taste  of  mankind 
in  every  climate,  and  in  different  stages  of  improve* 
ment;  and  are  in  high  request  among  the  rude 
natives  of  Africa,  as  well  as  the  more  luxurious 
inhabitants  of  Asia.  In  order  to  supply  their  seve- 
ral demands,  the  caravans  return  loaded  with  the 
muslins  and  chintzes  of  Bengal  and  the  Deccan, 
the  shawls  of  Cachemire,  the  pepper  of  Malabar,  the 
diamonds  of  Golconda,  the  pearls  of  Kilkare,  the 
cinnamon  of  Ceylon,  the  nutmeg,  cloves,  and  mace 
of  the  Moluccas,  and  an  immense  number  of  other 
Indian  commodities. 

Beside  these  great  caravans,  formed  partly  by 
respect  for  a  religious  precept,  and  partly  with  a 
view  to  extend  a  lucrative  branch  of  commerce, 
there  are  other  caravans,  and  these  not  inconsider- 
able, composed  entirely  of  merchants,  who  have  no 
object  but  trade.  These,  at  stated  seasons,  set 
out  from  different  parts  of  the  Turkish  and  Persian 
dominions,  and  proceeding  to  Indostan,  and  even  to 
China,  by  routes  which  were  anciently  known,  they 
convey  by  land- carriage  the  most  valuable  commo- 
dities of  these  countries  to  the  remote  provinces  of 
both  empires.  It  is  only  by  considering  the  dis- 
tance to  which  large  quantities  of  these  commodities 
are  carried,  and  frequently  across  extensive  deserts, 
which,  without  the  aid  of  camels,  would  have  been 
impassable,  that  we  can  form  any.  idea  of  the  mag- 
nitude of  the  trade  with  India  by  land,  and  are  led 

,Y 


W2      AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION,  Sec.  SE&T.  in, 

to  perceive  that  in  a  Disquisition  concerning  the 
various  modes  of  conducting  this  commerce,  it  is 
\vell  entitled  to  the  attention  which  I  have  bestowed 
in  endeavouring  to  trace  it.* 


*  See  NOTE  LIV\ 


AN 


HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION 


CONCERNING 


ANCIENT  INDIA. 

SECTION  IV. 

General  Observations* 

THUS  I  have  endeavoured  to  describe  the 
progress  of  trade  with  India,  both  by  sea  and 
by  land,  from  the  earliest  times  in  which  history 
affords  any  authentic  information  concerning  it, 
Xintil  an  entire  revolution  was  made  in  its  nature, 
and  the  mode  of  carrying  it  on,  by  that  great  dis- 
covery which  I  originally  fixed  as  the  utmost  boun- 
dary of  my  inquiries.  Here,  then,  this  Disquisition 
might  have  been  terminated.  But  as  I  have  con- 
ducted my  readers  to  that  period  when  a  new 
order  of  ideas,  and  new  arrangements  of  policy 
began  to  be  introduced  into  Europe,  in  consequence 
of  the  value  and  importance  of  commerce  being 
so  thoroughly  understood,  that  in  almost  every 


164  AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION    S*XT.  iy. 

country  the  encouragement  of  it  became  a  chief 
object  of  public  attention ;  as  we  have  now  reached 
that  point  whence  a  line  may  be  drawn  which 
marks  the  chief  distinction  between  the  manners 
and  po  litical  institutions  of  ancient  and  modern 
times,  it  will  render  the  work  more  instructive 
and  useful,  to  conclude  it  with  some  general  ob- 
servations, which  naturally  arise  from  a  survey  of 
both,  and  a  comparison  of  the  one  with  the  other. 
These  observations,  I  trust,  will  be  found  not 
only  to  have  an  intimate  connexion  with  the  sub- 
ject of  my  researches,  and  to  throw  additional  light 
upon  it ;  but  will  serve  to  illustrate  many  parti- 
culars in  the  general  history  of  commerce,  and 
to  point  out  effects  or  consequences  of  various 
events,  which  have  not  been  generally  observed, 
or  considered  with  that  attention  which  they  me- 
rited. 

I.  After  viewing  the  great  and  extensive  effects 
of  finding  a  new  course  of  navigation  to  India 
by  the  cape  of  Good  Hope,  it  may  appear  sur- 
prising to  a  modern  observer,  that  a  discovery  of 
such  importance  was  not  made,  or  even  attempted, 
by  any  of  the  commercial  states  of  the  ancient 
world.  But  in  judging  with  respect  to  the  con- 
duct of  nations  in  remote  times,  we  never  err  more 
widely,  than  when  we  decide  in  regard  to  it? 
not  according  to  the  ideas  and  views  of  their  age,, 
but  of  our  own.  This  is  not,  perhaps,  more  con- 
spicuous  in  any  instance,  than  in  that  under  con- 
sideration. It  was  by  the  Tyrians,  and  by  the 


iv.    CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.  i&5 

Greeks,  who  were  masters  of  Egypt,  that  the  dif- 
ferent people  of  Europe  were  first  supplied  with  the 
productions  of  the  East.  From  the  account  that 
lias  been  given  of  the  manner  in  which  they  pro- 
cured  these,  it  is  manifest  that  they  had  neither 
the  same  inducements  with  modern  nations,  to 
wish  for  any  new  communication  with  India,  nor 
the  same  means  of  accomplishing  it.  All  the  com- 
mercial transactions  of  the  ancients  with  the  East 
were  confined  to  the  ports  on  the  Malabar  coast, 
or  extended  at  farthest  to  the  island  of  Ceylon. 
To  these  staples  the  natives  of  all  the  different  re- 
gions in  the  eastern  parts  of  Asia  brought  the  com- 
modities which  were  the  growth  of  their  several 
countries,  or  the  product  of  their  ingenuity,  in  their 
own  vessels,  and  with  them  the  ships  from  Tyre, 
and  from  Egypt  completed  their  investments. 
While  the  operations  of  their  Indian  trade  were  car- 
ried on  within  a  sphere  so  circumscribed,  the  con- 
veyance of  a  cargo  by  the  Arabian  gulf,  notwith- 
standing the  expense  of  land  carriage,  either  from 
Elath  to  Rhinocolura,  or  across  the  Desert  to  the 
Nile,  was  so  safe  and  commodious,  that  the  mer- 
chants of  Tyre  and  Alexandria  had  little  reason  to 
be  solicitous  for  the  discovery  of  any  other.  The 
situation  of  both  these  cities,  as  well  as  that  of  the 
other  considerable  commercial  states  of  antiquity, 
was  very  different  from  that  of  the  countries,  to 
which,  in  later  times,  mankind  have  been  indebted 
for  keeping  up  intercourse  with  the  remote  parts  of 
the  globe.  Portugal,  Spain,  England,  Holland, 


166  AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUIStTION    SECT.IV 

which  have  been  most  active  and  successful  in  this 
line  of  enterprise,  all  lie  on  the  Atlantic  ocean  (in, 
which  every  European  voyage  of  discovery  must 
commence),  or  have  immediate  access  to  it.  But 
Tyre  was  situated  at  the  eastern  extremity  of  the 
Mediterranean,  Alexandria  not  far  from  it ;  Rhodes7 
Athens,  Corinth,  which  came  afterwards  to  be 
ranked  among  the  most  active  trading  cities  of 
antiquity,  lay  considerably  advanced  towards  the 
same  quarter  in  that  sea.  The  commerce  of  all 
these  states  was  long  confined  within  the  precincts 
of  the  Mediterranean ;  and  in  some  of  them  never 
extended  beyond  it.  The  pillars  of  Hercules,  or 
the  straits  of  Gibraltar,  were  long  considered  as 
the  utmost  boundary  of  navigation.  To  reach  this 
was  deemed  a  signal  proof  of  naval  skill ;  and 
before  any  of  these  states  could  give  a  beginning  to 
an  attempt  towards  exploring  the  vast  unknown 
ocean  which  lay  beyond  it,  they  had  to  accomplish 
a  voyage  (according  to  their  ideas)  of  great  extent 
and  much  danger.  This  was  sufficient  to  deter 
them  from  engaging  in  an  arduous  undertaking, 
from  which,  even  if  attended  with  success,  their  si- 
tuation prevented  their  entertaining  hopes  of  deriv- 
ing great  advantage.* 

But  could  we  suppose  the  discovery  of  a  new 
passage  to  India  to  have  become  an  object  of  de- 
sire or  pursuit  to  any  of  these  states,  their  science 
as  well  as  practice  of  navigation  was  so  defective, 

*  see 'NOTE  LV, 


SECT.  iv.    CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.  167 

that  it  would  have  been  hardly  possible  for  them 
to  attain  it.  The  vessels  which  the  ancients  em- 
ployed in  trade  were  so  small  as  not  to  afford  stow. 
age  for  provisions  sufficient  to  subsist  a  crew  during 
a  long  voyage.  Their  construction  was  such,  that 
they  could  seldom  venture  to  depart  far  from  land, 
and  their  mode  of  steering  along  the  coast  (which 
I  have  been  obliged  to  mention  often)  so  circuitous 
and  slow,  that  from  these  as  well  as  from  other  cir- 
cumstances which  I  might  have  specified,*  we  may 
pronounce  a  voyage  from  the  Mediterranean  to 
India  by  the  cape  of  Good  Hope,  to  have  been  an 
undertaking  beyond  their  power  to  accomplish,  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  render  it  in  any  degree  subser- 
vient to  commerce.  To  tliis  decision,  the  account 
preserved  by  Herodotus,  of  a  voyage  performed 
by  some  Phenician  ships  employed  by  a  king 
of  Egypt,  which  taking  their  departure  from  the 
Arabian  gulf,  doubled  the  southern  promontory  of 
Africa,  and  arrived  at  the  end  of  three  years,  by  the 
straits  of  Gades,  or  Gibraltar,  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Nile,t  can  hardly  be  considered  as  repugnant ;  for 
several  writers  of  the  greatest  eminence  among  the 
ancients,  and  most  distinguished  for  their  profici- 
ency in  the  knowledge  of  geography,  regarded  this 
account  rather  as  an  amusing  tale,  than  the  history 
of  a  real  transaction  ;  and  either  entertained  doubts 
concerning  the  possibility  of  sailing  round  Africa, 


*  Goguet  Orig.  des  Lqix,  ties  Arts,  &cnn,  303.  329, 
t  Lib.  iv,  c.  42, 


16S  AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION 

or  absolutely  denied  it.*  But  if  what  Herodotus 
relates  concerning  the  course  held  by  these  Pheni- 
cian  ships  had  ever  been  received  by  the  ancients 
with  general  assent,  we  can  hardly  suppose  that  any 
state  could  have  been  so  wildly  adventurous  as  to  ima- 
gine that  a  voyage,  which  it  required  three  years  to 
complete,  could  be  undertaken  with  a  prospect  of 
commercial  benefit. 

II.  The  rapid  progress  of  the  moderns  in  ex- 
ploring India,  as  well  as  the  extensive  power  and 
valuable  settlements  which  they  early  acquired 
there,  mark  such  a  distinction  between  their  mode 
of  conducting  naval  operations,  and  that  of  the 
ancients,  as  merits  to  be  considered  and  explained 
with  attention.  From  the  reign  of  the  first  Ptole- 
my, to  the  conquest  of  Egypt  by  the  Mahomedans, 
Europe  had  been  supplied  with  the  productions  of 
the  East  by  the  Greeks  of  Alexandria,  by  the  Ro- 
mans while  they  were  masters  of  Egypt,  and  by 
the  subjects  of  the  emperors  of  Constantinople, 
when  that  kingdom  became  a  province  of  their  do- 
minions. During  this  long  period,  extending  al- 
most to  a  thousand  years,  none  of  those  people,, 
the  most  enlightened  undoubtedly  in  the  ancient 
world,  ever  advanced  by  sea  farther  towards  the 
East  than  the  gulf  of  Siam,  and  had  no  regular 
established  trade  but  with  the  ports  on  the  coast, 
of  Malabar,  or  those  in  the  island  of  Ceylon.  They 

*  Polyb.  lib.  iii.  p.  193.  edit.  Casaub.     Plin.  Nat.  Hist.  Hie. 
it  c.  6.    Ptol.  Geogr.  lib.  iv.  c.  9.     See  NOTE    LVI. 


SECT.  iv.    CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.          16* 

attempted  no  conquests  in  any  part  of  India,  they 
made  no  settlements,  they  erected  no  forts.  Satis- 
fied with  an  intercourse  merely  commercial,  they 
did  not  aim  at  acquiring  any  degree  of  power  or  do- 
minion in  the  countries  where  they  traded,  though 
it  seems  to  be  probable  that  they  might  have  esta- 
blished it  without  much  opposition  from  the  natives^ 
a  gentle  effeminate  people,  with  whom,  at  that  time, 
no  foreign  and  more  warlike  race  was  mingled. 
But  the  enterprising  activity  of  the  Portuguese  was 
not  long  confined  within  the  same  limits ;  a  few 
years  after  their  arrival  at  Calecut,  they  advanced 
towards  the  east,  into  regions  unknown  to  the 
ancients.  The  kingdoms  of  Cambodia,  Cochin 
China,  Tonquin,  the  vast  empire  of  China,  and 
all  the  fertile  islands  in  the  great  Indian  Archipela- 
go, from  Sumatra  to  the  Philippines,  were  discover., 
ed,  and  the  Portuguese,  though  opposed  in  every 
quarter  by  the  Mahomedans  of  Tartar  or  Arabiaft 
origin,  settled  in  many  parts  of  India,  enemies  much 
more  formidable  than  the  natives,  established  there 
that  extensive  influence  and  dominion  which  I  have 
formerly  described. 

Of  this  remarkable  difference  between  the  pro- 
gress  and  operations  of  the  ancients  and  moderns 
in  India,  the  imperfect  knowledge  of  the  former, 
with  respect  both  to  the  theory  and  practice  of  navi- 
gation, seems  to  have  been  the  principal  cause. 
From  the  coast  of  Malabar  to  the  Philippines,  was 
a  voyage  of  an  extent  far  beyond  any  that  the  an- 
cients  were  accustomed  to  undertake,  and,  accord; 


170          AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION     SECT.  IV; 

ing  to  their  manner  of  sailing,  must  have  required 
a  great  length  of  time  to  perform  it.  The  nature  of 
their  trade  with  India  was  such,  that  they  had  not 
(as  has  been  formerly  observed)  the  same  induce- 
ments with  the  moderns,  to  prosecute  discovery 
with  ardour ;  and,  according  to  the  description  given 
of  the  vessels  in  which  the  merchants  of  Alexan- 
dria carried  on  their  trade  from  the  Arabian  Gulf, 
they  appear  to  have  been  very  unfit  for  that  purpose. 
On  all  these  accounts  the  ancients  remained  satis- 
fied with  a  slender  knowledge  of  India  :  and  influ- 
enced by  reasons  proceeding  from  the  same  cause, 
they  attempted  neither  conquest  nor  settlement 
there.  In  order  to  accomplish  either  of  these,  they 
must  have  transported  a  considerable  number  of 
men  into  India.  But,  from  the  defective  structure 
of  their  ships,  as  well  as  from  the  imperfection  of 
their  art  in  navigating  them,  the  ancients  seldom 
ventured  to  convey  a  body  of  troops  to  any  distance 
by  sea.  From  Berenice  to  Musiris  was  to  them, 
even  after  Hippalus  had  discovered  the  method 
of  steering  a  direct  course,  and  when  their  naval 
skill  had  attained  to  its  highest  state  of  improve- 
ment a  voyage  of  no  less  than  seventy  days.  By 
the  ancient  route  along  the  coast  of  Persia,  a  voy- 
age from  the  Arabian  Gulf  to  any  part  of  India 
must  have  been  of  greater  length,  and  accomplished 
more  slowly.  As  no  hostile  attack  was  ever  made 
upon  India  by  sea,  either  by  the  Greek  monarchs 
of  Egypt,  though  the  two  first  of  them  were  able 
and  ambitious  princes,  or  by  the  most  enterprising 
of  the  Roman  emperors,  it  is  evident  that  they 


*ECT.  iv.    CONCERNING  ANCIENT   INDIA.          itfi 

must  have  deemed  it  an  attempt  beyond  their  pow- 
er to  execute.  Alexander  the  Great,  and,  in  imi- 
tation of  him,  his  successors,  the  monarchs  of  Sy- 
ria, were  the  only  persons  in  the  ancient  world  who 
formed  an  idea  of  establishing  their  dominion  in 
any  part  of  India ;  but  it  was  with  armies  led  thither 
by  land,  that  they  hoped  to  achieve  this. 

III.  The  sudden  effect  of  opening  a  direct  com- 
munication with  the  east,  in  lowering  the  price  of 
Indian  commodities,  is  a  circumstance  that  merits 
observation.     How  compendious  soever  the  ancient 
intercourse  with  India  may  appear  to  have  been,  it 
was  attended  with  considerable  expense.     The  pro- 
ductions  of  the  remote  parts  of  Asia,  brought  to 
Ceylon,  or  to  the  ports  on  the  Malabar  coast,  by 
the  natives,  were  put  on  board  the  ships  which  ar- 
rived from  the  Arabian  Gulf.     At  Berenice  they 
were  landed,  and  carried  by  camels  two  hundred 
and  fifty-eight  miles  to   the  banks  of    the   Nile. 
There  they   were  again  embarked,  and   conveyed 
down  the  river  to  Alexandria,  whence  they  were 
despatched  to  different  markets.     The  addition  to 
the  price  of  goods  by  such  a  multiplicity  of  opera- 
tions must  have  been  considerable,  especially  when 
the  rate  chargeable  on  each  operation  was  fixed  by 
monopolists,  subject  to  no  control.     But,  after  the 
passage  to  India  by  the  cape  of  Good  Hope  was 
discovered,  its  various  commodities  were  purchased 
at  first  hand  in  the  countries  of  which  they  were 
the  growth  or  manufacture.     In  all  these,  particu- 
larly in  Indostan  and  in  China,  the  subsistence  of 


\n          AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION    SECT.  iv. 

man  is  more  abundant  than  in  any  other  part  of 
the  earth.  The  people  live  chiefly  upon  rice,  the 
most  prolific  of  all  grains.  Population,  of  conse- 
quence, is  so  great,  and  labour  so  extremely  cheap, 
that  every  production  of  nature  or  of  art  is  sold  at 
a  very  low  price.  When  these  were  shipped  in  dif- 
ferent parts  of  India,  they  were  conveyed  directly 
to  Lisbon,  by  a  navigation,  long  indeed,  but  unin- 
terrupted and  safe,  and  thence  circulated  through 
Europe,  The  carriage  of  mercantile  goods  by  wa- 
ter is  so  much  less  expensive  than  by  any  other 
mode  of  conveyance,  that  as  soon  as  the  Portuguese 
could  import  the  productions  of  India  in  sufficient 
quantities  to  supply  the  demands  of  Europe,  they 
were  able  to  afford  them  at  such  a  reduced  price, 
that  the  competition  of  the  Venetians  ceased  almost 
entirely,  and  the  full  stream  of  commerce  flowed  in 
its  natural  direction  towards  the  cheapest  market- 
In  what  proportion  the  Portuguese  lowered  the  price 
of  Indian  commodities,  I  cannot  ascertain  with  pre- 
cision, as  I  have  not  found  in  contemporary  writers 
sufficient  information  with  respect  to  that  point. 
Some  idea,  however,  of  this,  approaching  perhaps 
near  to  accuracy,  may  be  formed,  from  the  com- 
putations of  Mr.  Munn,  an  intelligent  English  mer- 
chant. He  has  published  a  table  of  the  prices  paid 
for  various  articles  of  goods  in  India,  compared 
with  the  prices  for  which  they  were  sold  in  Aleppo, 
from  which  the  difference  appears  to  be  nearly  as 
three  to  one ;  and  he  calculates,  that,  after  a  reason- 
able allowance  for  the  expense  of  the  voyage  fron) 


SECT.  iv.     CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.  173 

India,  the  same  goods  may  be  sold  in  England  at 
half  the  price  which  they   bear  in  Aleppo.     The 
expense  of  conveying  the  productions  of  India  up 
the   Persian    gulf    to  Bassora,    and   thence  either 
through  the  Great  or  Little  Desert  to  Aleppo,  could 
not,  I  should  imagine,  differ  considerably  from  that 
by  the  Red  sea  to  Alexandria.     We  may  therefore 
suppose,  that  the  Venetians   might  purchase  them 
from  the  merchants  of  that  city,  at  nearly  the  same 
rate   for   which   they   were  sold  in    Aleppo ;    and 
when  we  add  to  this,  what  they  must  have  charged 
as  their  own  profit  in  all  the  markets  which  they 
frequented,  it  is  evident  that  the  Portuguese  might 
afford  to  reduce  the  commodities  of  the  east  at  a 
price  below  that  which  has  been  mentioned,  and 
might  supply  every  part  of  Europe  with  them  more 
than  one  half  cheaper  than  formerly.    The  enterpris- 
ing schemes  of  the  Portuguese  monarchs  were  ac- 
complished  sooner,    as   well   as  more  completely, 
than  in  the  hour  of  most  sanguine  hope  they  could 
have  presumed  to  expect ;  and  early  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  their  subjects  became  possessed  of  a  mono- 
poly of  the  trade  with  India,  founded  upon  the 
only  equitable  title,   that  of  furnishing  its  produc- 
tions in  greater  abundance,  and  at  a  more  moderate 
price. 

IV.  We  may  observe,  that  in  consequence  of  a 
more  plentiful  supply  of  Indian  goods,  arid  at  a 
cheaper  rate,  the  demand  for  them  increased  rapidly 
in  every  part  of  Europe.  To  trace  the  progress  of 
£his  in  detail,  would  lead  me  far  beyond  the  period 


IU  AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION    SECT.  iv. 

which  I  have  fixed  as  the  limit  of  this  disquisition, 
but  some  general  remarks  concerning  it  will  be 
found  intimately  connected  with  the  subject  of  my 
inquiries.  The  chief  articles  of  importation  from 
India,  while  the  Romans  had  the  direction  of  the 
trade  with  that  country,  have  been  formerly  speci- 
fied. But  upon  the  subversion  of  their  empire, 
and  the  settlement  of  the  fierce  warriors  of  Scythia 
and  Germany  in  the  various  countries  of  Europe 
the  state  of  society,  as  well  as  the  condition  of  indi- 
viduals, became  so  extremely  different,  that  the 
tvants  and  desires  of  men  were  no  longer  the  same. 
Barbarians,  many  of  them  not  far  advanced  in  their 
progress  beyond  the  rudest  state  of  social  life,  had 
little  relish  for  those  accommodations,  and  that  ele- 
gance, which  are  so  alluring  to  polished  nations. 
The  curious  manufactures  of  silk,  the  precious 
stones  and  pearls  of  the  east,  which  had  been  the 
ornament  and  pride  of  the  wealthy  and  luxurious 
citizens  of  Rome,  were  not  objects  of  desire  to  men, 
who  for  a  considerable  time  after  they  took  pos- 
session of  their  new  conquests,  retained  the  original 
simplicity  of  their  pastoral  manners.  They  ad- 
vanced, however,  from  rudeness  to  refinement  in 
the  usual  course  of  progression  which  nations  are 
destined  to  hold,  and  an  increase  of  wants  and  de- 
sires requiring  new  objects  to  gratify  them,  they 
began  to  acquire  a  relish  for  some  of  the  luxuries 
of  India.  Among  these  they  had  a  singular  predi- 
lection for  the  spiceries  and  aromatics  which  that 
country  yields  in  such  variety  and  abundance. 
Whence  their  peculiar  fondness  for  these  arose,  it  is 


SECT.  IY.      CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.          175 

not  of  importance  to  inquire.  Whoever  consults 
the  writers  of  the  middle  ages,  will  find  many  par- 
ticulars which  confirm  this  observation.  In  every 
enumeration  of  Indian  commodities  which  they  give, 
spices  are  always  mentioned  as  the  most  consider- 
able and  precious  article.*  In  their  cookery,  all 
dishes  were  highly  seasoned  with  them.  In  every 
entertainment  of  parade,  a  profusion  of  them  was 
deemed  essential  to  magnificence.  In  every  medical 
prescription  they  were  principal  ingredients,  f  But 
considerable  as  the  demand  for  spices  had  become, 
the  mode  in  which  the  nations  of  Europe  had  hi- 
therto  been  supplied  with  them  was  extremely  dis- 
advantageous. The  ships  employed  by  the  mer- 
chants of  Alexandria  never  ventured  to  visit  those 
remote  regions  which  produce  the  most  valuable 
spices,  and  before  they  could  be  circulated  through 
Europe,  they  were  loaded  with  the  accumulated 
profits  received  by  four  or  five  different  hands 
through  which  they  had  passed.  But  the  Portu- 
guese, with  a  bolder  spirit  of  navigation,  having 
penetrated  into  every  part  of  Asia,  took  in  their  car- 
go of  spices  in  the  places  where  they  grew,  and  could 
afford  to  dispose  of  them  at  such  a  price,  that,  from 
being  an  expensive  luxury,  they  became  an  article 
of  such  general  use,  as  greatly  augmented  the  de- 
mand for  them.  An  effect  similar  to  this  may  be 
observed,  with  respect  to  the  demand  for  other  com- 

*  Jac.  de  Vitriac.  Hist.  Hieros.  ap.  Bongars,  i.  p.  1099. 
Wilh.  Tyr.lib.  xii.  c.  23. 

t  Du  Cange  Glossar.  Verb.  Aromata,  S/i?cf,es.  Henry's- 
Hist,  of  G.  Brit,  vol.  iv.  p.  597.  598, 


1/6  AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION     SECT  iv.v 

modities  imported  from  India,  upon  the  reduction, 
of  their  price  by  the  Portuguese.  From  that  period 
a  growing  taste  for  Asiatic  luxuries  may  be  traced 
in  every  country  of  Europe,  and  the  number  of 
ships  fitted  out  for  that  trade  at  Lisbon  continued 
to  increase  every  year.* 

V.  Lucrative  as  the  trade  with  India  was,  and 
had  long  been  deemed,  it  is  remarkable  that  the 
Portuguese  were  suffered  to  remain  in  the  undis- 
turbed and  exclusive  possession  of  it,  during  the 
course  of  almost  a  century.  In  the  ancient  world, 
though  Alexandria,  from  the  peculiar  felicity  of  its 
situation,  .could  carry  on  an  intercourse  with  the 
East  by  sea,  and  circulate  its  productions  through 
Europe  with  such  advantage,  as  gave  it  a  decided 
superiority  over  every  rival ;  yet  various  attempts 
(  which  have  been  described  in  their  proper  places) 
were  made  from  time  to  time,  to  obtain  some  share 
in  a  commerce  so  apparently  beneficial.  From 
the  growing  activity  of  the  commercial  spirit  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  as  well  as  from  the  example  of 
the  eager  solicitude  with  which  the  Venetians  and 
Genoese  exerted  themselves  alternately  to  shut  out 
each  other  from  any  share  in  the  Indian  trade,  it 
might  have  been  expected  that  some  competitor 
would  have  arisen  to  call  in  question  the  claim  of 
the  Portuguese  to  an  exclusive  right  of  traffic  with 
the  east,  and  to  wrest  from  them  some  portion  of 
it.  There  were,  however,  at  that  time,  some  pecu- 

*  See  NOTE  LVIL 


.  iv.    CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.  itt 

liar  circumstances  in  the  political  state  of  all  those 
nations  in  Europe,  whose  intrusion,  as  rivals,  the 
Portuguese  had  any  reason  to  dread,  which  secured 
to  them  the  quiet  enjoyment  of  their  monopoly  of 
Indian  commerce,  during  such  a  long  period. 
From  the  accession  of  Charles  V.  to  the  throne, 
Spain  was  either  so  much  occupied  in  a  multipli- 
city of  operations  in  which  it  was  engaged  by  the 
ambition  of  that  monarch,  and  of  his  son  Philip 
II.  or  so  intent  on  prosecuting  its  own  discoveries 
and  conquests  in  the  New  World,  that  although, 
by  the  successful  enterprise  of  Magellan,  A. D.  1521, 
its  fleets  were  unexpectedly  conducted  by  a  new 
course  to  that  remote  region  of  Asia  which  was  the 
seat  of  the  most  gainful  and  alluring  branch  of  trade 
carried  on  by  the  Portuguese,  it  could  make  no  con- 
siderable effort  to  avail  itself  of  the  commercial  ad- 
vantages which  it  might  have  derived  from  that 
event.  By  the  acquisition  of  the  crown  of  Portu- 
gal, in  the  year  one  thousand  five  hundred  and 
eighty,  the  kings  of  Spain,  instead  of  the  rivals,  be- 
came the  protectors  of  the  Portuguese  trade,  and 
the  guardians  of  all  its  exclusive  rights*  Through- 
out the  sixteenth  century,  the  strength  and  re- 
sources of  France  were  so  much  wasted  by  the 
fruitless  expeditions  of  their  monarchs  into  Italy, 
by  their  unequal  contest  with  the.  power  and  poli- 
cy of  Charles  V.  and  by  the  calamities  of  the  civil 
wars  which  desolated  the  kingdom  upwards  of  forty 
years,  that  it  could  neither  bestow  much  attention 
upon  objects  of  commerce,  nor  engage  in  any 
scheme  of  distant  enterprise.  The  Venetians,  how 

~ 


ITS          AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION      SECT,  iv 

sensibly  soever  they  might  feel  the  mortifying  re* 
verse  of  being  excluded,  almost  entirely,  from  the 
Indian  trade,  of  which  their  capital  had  been  for- 
merly the  chief  seat,  were  so  debilitated  and  hum- 
bled by  the  league  of  Cambray,  that  they  were  no 
longer  capable  of  engaging  in  any  undertaking  of 
magnitude.  England,  weakened  (as  was  formerly 
observed)  by  the  long  contest  between  the  houses 
of  York  and  Lancaster,  and  just  beginning  to  re- 
cover its  proper  vigour,  was  restrained  from  active 
exertion,  during  one  part  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
by  the  cautious  maxims  of  Henry  VII.  and  wasted 
its  strength  during  another  part  of  it,  by  engaging 
inconsiderately  in  the  wars  between  the  princes  on 
the  continent.  The  nation,  though  destined  to  ac- 
quire territories  in  India  more  extensive  and  valu- 
able than  were  ever  possessed  by  any  European 
power,  had  no  such  presentiment  of  its  future  emi- 
nence there,  as  to  take  an  early  part  in  the  com- 
merce or  transactions  of  that  country,  and  a  great 
part  of  the  century  elapsed  before  it  began  to  turn 
its  attention  towards  the  east. 

While  the  most  considerable  nations  in  Europe 
found  it  necessary,  from  the  circumstances  which  I 
have  mentioned,  to  remain  inactive  spectators  of 
what  passed  in  the  East,  the  Seven  United  Provinces 
of  the  Low- Countries,  recently  formed  into  a  small 
state,  still  struggling  for  political  existence,  and  yet 
in  the  infancy  of  its  power,  ventured  to  appear  in  the 
Indian  ocean  as  the  rivals  of  the  Portuguese ;  and, 
despising  their  pretensions  to  an  exclusive  right  of 
commerce  with  the  extensive  countries  to  the  east- 


SECT.  iv.      CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.  17$ 

ward  of  the  cape  of  Good  Hope,  invaded  that 
monopoly  which  they  had  hitherto  guarded  with 
such  jealous  attention  The  English  soon  followed 
the  example  of  the  Dutch,  and  both  nations,  at  first 
by  the  enterprising  industry  of  private  adventurers, 
and  afterwards  by  the  more  powerful  efforts  of  tra- 
ding companies,  under  the  protection  of  public 
authority,  advanced  with  astonishing  ardour  and 
success  in  this  new  career  opened  to  them.  The 
vast  fabric  of  power  which  the  Portuguese  had 
erected  in  the  East  (a  superstructure  much  too  large 
for  the  basis  on  which  it  had  to  rest)  was  almost 
entirely  overturned,  in  as  short  time,  and  with  as 
much  facility,  as  it  had  been  raised.  England  and 
Holland,  by  driving  them  from  their  most  valuable 
settlements,  and  seizing  the  most  lucrative  branch- 
es of  their  trade,  have  attained  to  that  pre-eminence 
in  naval  power  and  commercial  opulence,  by 
which  they  are  distinguished  among  the  nations  of 
Europe. 

VI.  The  coincidence,  in  point  of  time,  of  the 
discoveries  made  by  Columbus  in  the  West,  and 
those  of  Gama  in  the  East,  is  a  singular  circumstance, 
which  merits  observation,  on  account  of  the  re- 
markable influence  of  those  events  in  forming  qr 
strengthening  the  commercial  connexion  of  the  dif- 
ferent quarters  of  the  globe  with  each  other.  In  all 
ages,  gold  and  silver,  particularly  the  latter,  have 
been  the  commodities  exported  with  the  greatest 
profit  to  India.  In  no  part  of  the  earth  do  the  na- 
tives depend  so  little  upon  foreign  countries,  either 
for  the  necessaries  or  luxuries  of  life.  The 


180  AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION    SECT  IT 

sings  of  a  favourable  climate  and  fertile  soil,   aug- 
mented by  their  own  ingenuity,  afford  them  what- 
ever they  desire.     In   consequence   of  this,  trade 
with  them  has  always  been  carried  on  in  one  uni- 
form manner,   and  the  precious  metals  have  been 
given  in  exchange   for  their  peculiar  productions, 
whether  of  nature  or  art.     But  when  the  communi- 
cation with  India  was  rendered  so  much  more  easy, 
that  the  demand  for  its  commodities  began  to  in- 
crease far  beyond  what  had  been  formerly  known,  if 
Europe  had  not  been  supplied  with  the  gold  and  sil- 
ver which  it  was  necessary  to  carry  to  the  markets  o* 
the  East  from  sources  richer  and  more  abundant 
than  her  own  barren  and  impoverished  mines,  she 
must  either  have  abandoned  the  trade  with  India 
altogether,   or  have  continued  it  with  manifest  dis- 
advantage.    By  such  a  continual  drain  of  gold  and 
silver,  as  well  as  by  the  unavoidable  waste  of  both 
in  circulation  and  in  manufactures,  the  quantity  of 
those  metals  must  have  gone  on  diminishing,  and 
their  value  would  have  been  so  much  enhanced, 
that  they  could  not  have  continued  long  to  be  of 
the   same    utility  in   the   commercial   transactions 
between  the  two  countries.     But  before  the  effects 
of  this  diminution  could  be  very  sensibly  felt,  Ame- 
rica opened  her  mines,  and    poured    in  treasures 
upon  Europe  in  the  most  copious  stream  to  which 
mankind  ever  had  access.     This  treasure,  in  spite 
of  innumerable  anxious  precautions  to  prevent  it, 
flowed  to  the  markets  where  the  commodities  neces- 
<sary  for   supplying  the   wants,   or   gratifying   the 


SECT.  iv.     CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.  181 

luxury  of  the  Spaniards,  were  to  be  found ;  and 
from  that  time  to  the  present,  the  English  and 
Dutch  have  purchased  the  productions  of  China 
and  Indostan,  with  silver  brought  from  the  mines 
of  Mexico  and  Peru.  The  immense  exportation 
of  silver  to  the  East,  during  the  course  of  two  cen- 
turies, has  not  only  been  replaced  by  the  continual 
influx  from  America,  but  the  quantity  of  it  has 
been  considerably  augmented,  and  at  the  same  time 
the  proportional  rate  of  its  value  in  Europe  and  in 
India  has  varied  so  little,  that  it  is  chiefly  with  silver 
that  many  of  the  capital  articles  imported  from  the 
East  are  still  purchased. 

While  America  contributed  in  this  manner  to 
facilitate  and  extend  the  intercourse  of  Europe, 
with  Asia,  it  gave  rise  to  a  trafiic  with  Africa,  which, 
from  slender  beginnings,  has  become  so  consider- 
able, as  to  form  the  chief  bond  of  commercial  con- 
nexion with  that  continent.  Soon  after  the  F: 
guese  had  extended  their  discoveries  on  the  coast 
of  Africa  beyond  the  river  Senegal,  they  endeavo.i 
ed  to  derive  some  benefit  from  their  new  settleip'.r  ta 
there,  by  the  sale  of  slaves.  Various  circumsi  ••-: 
combined  in  favouring  the  revival  of  this  odious 
traffic.  In  every  part  of  America,  of  which  the 
Spaniards  took  possession,  they  found  that  the  na- 
tives, from  the  feebleness  of  their  frame,  from  their 
indolence,  or  from  the  injudicious  manner  of  treat- 
ing them,  were  incapable  of  the  exertions  requisite 
either  for  working  mines,  or  for  cultivating  the 
earth.  Eager  to  find  hands  more  industrious  and 
efficient,  the  Spaniards  had  recpurse  to  their 


182  AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION    SECT,  iv, 

• 

bours  the  Portuguese,  and  purchased  from  them 
negro  slaves.  Experience  soon  discovered  that 
they  were  men  of  a  more  hardy  race,  and  so  much 
better  fitted  for  enduring  fatigue,  that  the  labour  of 
one  negro  was  computed  to  be  equal  to  that  of  four 
Americans;*  and  from  that  time  the  number  em- 
ployed in  the  New  World  has  gone  on  increasing 
with  rapid  progress.  In  this  practice,  no  less  re- 
pugnant to  the  feelings  of  humanity  than  to  the  prin- 
ciples of  religion,  the  Spaniards  have  unhappily  been 
imitated  by  all  the  nations  of  Europe,  who  have  ac- 
quired territories  in  the  warmer  climates  of  the  New 
World.  At  present  the  number  of  negro  slaves  in 
the  settlements  of  Great  Britain  and  France  in  the 
West  Indies,  exceeds  a  million ;  and  as  the  esta- 
blishment of  servitude  has  been  found,  both  in  an- 
cient and  in  modern  times,  extremely  unfavourable 
to  population,  it  requires  an  annual  importation  from 
Africa,  of  at  least  fifty-eight  thousand  to  keep  up 
the  stock. f  If  it  were  possible  to  ascertain,  with 
equal  exactness,  the  number  of  slaves  in  the  Span- 
ish dominions,  and  in  North  America,  the  total 
number  of  negro  slaves  might  be  well  reckoned  at 
as  many  more. 

Thus  the  commercial  genius  of  Europe,  which 
has  given  it  a  visible  ascendant  over  the  three  other 
divisions  of  the  earth,  by  discerning  their  respective 
wants  and  resources,  and  by  rendering  them  reci- 
procally subservient  to  one  another,  has  established 

*  Hist,    of  America,  vol.  i.  p.  320. 

i  Report  of  Lords  of  the  Privy  Council,  A.D.  1788, 


SECT,  rv.    CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.          183 

an  union  among  them,  from  which  it  has  derived 
an  immense  increase  of  opulence,  of  power,  and  of 
enjoyments. 

VII.  Though  the  discovery  of  a  New  World  in 
the  West,  and  the  opening  of  a  more  easy  and  direct 
communication  with  the  remote  regions  of  the  East 
co-operated  towards  extending  the  commerce,  and 
adding  to  the  enjoyments,  of  Europe,  a  remarkable 
difference  may  be  observed,  with  respect  both  to 
the  time  and  the  manner  in  which  they  produced 
these  effects.  When  the  Portuguese  first  visited 
the  different  countries  of  Asia,  stretching  from  the 
coast  of  Malabar  to  China,  they  found  them  pos- 
sessed by  nations  highly  civilized,  which  had  made 
considerable  progress  in  elegant  as  well  as  useful 
arts,  which  were  accustomed  to  intercourse  with 
strangers,  and  well  acquainted  with  all  the  advan- 
tages of  commerce.  But  when  the  Spaniards  began 
to  explore  the  New  World  which  they  discovered, 
the  aspect  which  it  presented  to  them  was  very  dif- 
ferent. The  islands  were  inhabited  by  naked  sa- 
vages, so  unacquainted  with  the  simplest  and  most 
necessary  arts  of  life,  that  they  subsisted  chiefly  on 
the  spontaneous  productions  of  a  fertile  soil  and  ge- 
nial climate.  The  continent  appeared  to  be  a  forest 
of  immense  extent,  along  the  coast  of  which  were 
scattered  some  feeble  tribes,  not  greatly  superior  to 
the  islanders  in  industry  or  improvement.  Even 
its  two  large  monarchies,  which  have  been  dignified 
with  the  appellation  of  civilized  states,  had  not  ad- 
vanced so  far  beyond  their  countrymen,  as  to  be  en- 


184          AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION     SECT  i^. 

titled  to  that  name.  The  inhabitants  both  of  Mex- 
ico and  Perux  unacquainted  with  the  useful  metals, 
and  destitute  of  the  address  requisite  for  acquiring 
such  command  of  the  interior  animals  as  to  derive 
any  considerable  aid  from  their  labour,  had  made 
so  little  progress  in  agriculture,  the  first  of  all  arts, 
that  one  of  the  greatest  difficulties  with  which  the 
small  number  of  Spaniards,  who  overturned  those 
highly  extolled  empires,  had  to  struggle,  was  how 
to  procure  in  them  what  was  sufficient  for  their 
subsistence. 

It  was  of  consequence,  with  a  very  different 
spirit,  that  the  intercourse  with  two  countries, 
resembling  each  other  so  little  in  their  degree  of 
improvement,  was  begun  and  carried  on.  The 
Portuguese,  certain  of  finding  in  the  East,  not 
only  the  productions  with  which  the  bountiful 
hand  of  nature  has  enriched  that  part  of  the 
globe,  but  various  manufactures  which  had  long 
been  known  and  admired  in  Europe,  engaged 
in  this  alluring  trade  with  the  greatest  eagerness. 
The  encouragement  of  it,  their  monarchs  con- 
sidered as  a  chief  object  of  government,  towards 
which  they  directed  all  the  power  of  the  king- 
dom, and  roused  their  subjects  to  such  vigorous 
exertions  in  the  prosecution  of  it,  as  occasioned 
that  astonishing  rapidity  of  progress  which  I  have 
described.  The  sanguine  hopes  with  which  the 
Spaniards  entered  upon  their  career  of  discovery, 
met  not  with  the  same  speedy  gratification.  From  the 
industry  of  the  rude  inhabitants  of  the  New  World, 


SECT.  iv.    CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA*  1 85 

they  did  not  receive  a  single  article  of  commerce* 
Even  the  natural  productions  of  the  soil  and 
climate,  when  not  cherished  and  multiplied  by 
the  fostering  and  active  hand  of  man,  were  of 
little  account.  Hope,  rather  than  success,  incited 
them  to  persist  in  extending  their  researches  and 
conquests ;  and  as  government  derived  little  imme- 
diate benefit  from  these,  it  left  the  prosecution  of 
them  chiefly  to  private  adventurers,  by  whose  en- 
terprising activity,  more  than  by  any  effort  of  the 
state,  the  most  valuable  possessions  of  Spain  in 
America  were  acquired.  Instead  of  the  instan- 
taneous and  great  advantages  which  the  Portuguese 
derived  from  their  discoveries,  above  half  a  cen- 
tury elapsed  before  the  Spaniards  reaped  any  bene- 
fit of  consequence  from  their  conquests,  except  the 
small  quantities  of  gold  which  the  islanders  were 
compelled  to  collect,  and  the  plunder  of  the  gold 
and  silver  employed  by  the  Mexicans  and  Peru- 
vians as  ornaments  of  their  persons  and  temples, 
or  as  utensils  of  sacred  or  domestic  use.  It  was 
not  until  the  discovery  of  the  mines  of  Potosi 
in  Peru,  in  the  year  one  thousand  five  hundred 
and  forty-five,  and  of  those  of  Sacotecas  in 
Mexico,  soon  after,  that  the  Spanish  territories 
in  the  New  World  brought  a  permanent  and 
valuable  addition  of  wealth  and  revenue  to  the  mo- 
ther country. 

Nor  did  the  trade  with  India  differ  more 
from  that  with  America,  in  respect  of  the  par* 
ticular  circumstance  which  I  have  explained,  than 


1 86          AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION     SECT.  ir. 

in  respect  to  the  manner  of  carrying  it  on,  after 
it  grew  to  be  a  considerable  object  of  political  at- 
tention.    Trade  with  the  East  was  a  simple  mer- 
cantile transaction,  confined  .to  the  purchase  either 
of  the  natural  productions  of  the  country,  such  as 
spices,  precious  stones,  pearls,  £s?c.  or  of  the  manu- 
factures   which   abounded    among  an   industrious 
race    of  men,    such   as    silk    and    cotton    stuffs, 
porcelane,  Sec.      Nothing    more   was  requisite  in 
conducting  this  trade,  than  to  settle  a  few  skilful 
agents  in   proper  places,  to  prepare  a  proper  as- 
sortment of  goods  for  completing  the  cargoes  of 
ships  as  soon  as  they  arrived  from   Europe,  or  at 
the  utmost  to   acquire  the  command  of  a  few  for- 
tified stations,  which  might  secure  them  admission 
into    ports  where  they    might   careen    in   safety 
and  find  protection  from  the  insults  of  any  hostile 
power.      There   was   no  necessity  of  making  any 
attempt  to  establish  colonies,  either  for   the  cul- 
tivation of  the  soil,  or  the  conduct  of  manufac- 
tures.     Both  these  remained,  as  formerly,  in  the 
hands  of  the  natives. 

But  as  soon  as  that  wild  spirit  of  enterprise 
which  animated  the  Spaniards  who  first  explorec 
and  subdued  the  New  World,  began  to  subside 
and  when,  instead  of  roving  as  adventurers  froir 
province  to  province  in  quest  of  gold  and  silver 
they  seriously  turned  their  thoughts  towards  ren 
dering  their  conquests  beneficial  by  cultivation  am 
industry,  they  found  it  necessary  to  establish  colo 
nies  in  every  country  which  they  wished  to  improve 


SECT.  iv.     CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.  187 

Other  nations  imitated  their  example  in  the  settle- 
ments   which    they    afterwards  made  in  some    of 
the  islands,  and  on  the  continent  of  North  America 
Europe,  after  having  desolated  the  New  World,  be. 
gan  to  repeople   it,  and   under  a  system   of  colo- 
nization (the   spirit  and  regulations  of  which  it  is 
not  the  object  of  this   disquisition  to  explain)  the 
European  race  has    multiplied    there    amazingly. 
Every  article  of  commerce  imported  from  the  New 
World,  if  we  except  the   furs  and  skins  purchased 
from  the  independent  tribes  of  hunters   in   North 
America,  and  from  a  few  tribes  in   a  similar  state 
on  the  southern  continent,   is   the  produce   of  the 
industry   of  Europeans  settled  there.     To  their  ex- 
ertions,   or    to  those   of  hands  which   they  have 
taught  or  compelled  to  labour,    we  are  indebted 
for  sugar,  rum,  cotton,  tobacco,  indigo,  rice,   anct 
even  the  gold  and  silver  extracted  from  the  bowels 
of  the  earth.     Intent  on  those  lucrative  branches 
of  industry,  the   inhabitants   of  the   New   World 
pay  little  attention  to  those  kinds  of  labour  which 
occupy  a    considerable    part  of  the  members    of 
other  societies,  and  depend,    in  some  measure,  for 
their  subsistence,  and  entirely  for  eveiy  article  *of 
elegance  and  luxury,  upon  the  ancient  continent. 
Thus  the  Europeans  have  become  manufacturers 
for  America,   and  their  industry  has  been  greatly 
augmented  by  the  vast  demands  for  supplying  the 
wants   of  extensive   countries,   the    population  of 
which  is  continually  increasing.  Nor  is  the  influence 
of  this   demand    confined    solely    to    the   nations 
which  have   a  more   immediate    conuexion   with 


188        AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION,       SECT.IV 

the  American  colonies;  it  is  felt  in  every  part 
of  Europe  that  furnishes  any  article  exported 
to  them,  and  gives  activity  and  vigour  to  the 
hand  of  the  artisan  in  the  inland  provinces  of 
Germany,  as  well  as  to  those  in  Great  Britain  and 
other  countries,  which  carry  on  a  direct  trade  with 
the  New  World. 

But  while  the  discovery  and  conquest  of  Ame- 
rica is  allowed  to  be  one  principal  cause  of  that 
rapid  increase  of  industry  and  wealth,  which  is 
conspicuous  in  Europe  during  the  two  last  cen- 
turies, some  timid  theorists  have  maintained,  that 
throughout  the  same  period  Europe  has  been 
gradually  impoverished,  by  being  drained  of  its 
treasure  in  order  to  carry  on  its  trade  with  India. 
But  this  apprehension  has  arisen  from  inattention 
to  the  nature  and  use  of  the  precious  metals.  They 
are  to  be  considered  in  two  different  lights ; 
either  as  the  signs  which  all  civilized  nations  have 
agreed  to  employ,  in  order  to  estimate  or  repre- 
sent the  value  both  of  labour  and  of  all  commo- 
dities, and  thus  to  facilitate  the  purchase  of  the 
former,  and  the  conveyance  of  the  latter  from  one 
proprietor  to  another  ;  or  gold  and  silver  may  be 
viewed  as  being  themselves  commodities,  or  articles 
of  commerce  for  which  some  equivalent  must  be 
given  by  such  as  wish  to  acquire  them.  In  this 
light  the  exportation  of  the  precious  metals  to  the 
East  should  be  regarded;  for,  as  the  nation  by 
which  they  are  exported  must  purchase  them  with 
the  produce  of  its  own  labour  and  ingenuity,  this 


SECT.  iv.    CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.  189 

trade  must  contribute  though  not  in  the  same  ob- 
vious and  direct  manner  as  that  with  America,  to- 
wards augmenting  the  general  industry  and  opu- 
lence of  Europe.  If  England,  as  the  price  of 
Mexican  and  Peruvian  dollars  which  are  neces- 
sary for  carrying  on  its  trade  with  India,  must 
give  a  certain  quantity  of  its  wollen  or  cotton 
cloth  or  hard-ware,  then  the  hands  of  an  additional 
number  of  manufacturers  ar  rendered  active,  and 
work  to  a  certain  amount  must  be  executed,  for 
which,  without  this  trade,  there  would  not  have 
been  any  demand.  The  nation  reaps  all  the 
benefit  arising  from  a  new  creation  of  industry. 
With  the  gold  and  silver  which  her  manufactures; 
have  purchased  in  the  West,  she  is  enabled  to 
trade  in  the  markets  of  the  East,  and  the  expor- 
tation of  treasure  to  India,  which  has  been  so  much 
dreaded,  instead  of  impoverishing  enriches  the  king- 
dom. 

VIII.  It  is  to  the  discovery  of  the  passage  to 
India  by  the  cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  to  th'e 
vigour  and  success  with  which  the  Portuguese  pro- 
secuted their  conquests  and  established  their  domi- 
nion there,  that  Europe  has  been  indebted  for  its 
preservation  from  the  most  illiberal  and  humilia- 
ting servitude  that  ever  oppressed  polished  nations. 
For  this  observation  I  am  indebted  to  an  author, 
whose  ingenuity  has  illustrated,  and  whose  elo- 
quence has  adorned  the  History  of  the  Settlements 
and  commerce  of  Modern  Nations  in  the  East  and 


190  AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION    SECT.  iv. 

West  Indies  ;*  and  it  appears  to  me  so  well  found- 
ed as  to  merit  more  ample  investigation.  A  few- 
years  after  the  first  appearance  of  the  Portuguese 
in  India,  the  dominion  of  the  Mamelukes  was  over- 
turned by  the  irresistible  power  of  the  Turkish 
arms,  and  Egypt  and  Syria  were  annexed  as  pro- 
vinces to  the  Ottoman  empire.  If  after  this  event 
the  commercial  intercourse  with  India  had  continued 
to  be  carried  on  in  its  ancient  channels,  the  Turkish 
sultans,  by  being  masters  of  Egypt  and  Syria,  must 
have  possessed  the  absolute  command  of  it,  whether 
the  productions  of  the  East  were  conveyed  by  the 
Red  sea  to  Alexandria,  or  were  transported  by  land- 
Carriage  from  the  Persian  gulf  to  Constantinople, 
and  the  ports  of  the  Mediterranean;  The  monarchs 
who  were  then  at  the  head  of  this  great  empire,  were 
neither  destitute  of  abilities  to  perceive  the  pre- 
eminence to  which  this  would  have  elevated  them, 
nor  of  ambition  to  aspire  to  it.  Selim,  the  con- 
queror of  the  Mamelukes,  by  confirming  the  ancient 
privileges  of  the  Venetians  in  Egypt  and  Syria, 
and  by  his  regulations  concerning  the  duties  on  In- 
dian goods,  which  I  have  already  mentioned,  early 
discovered  his  solicitude  to  secure  all  the  advan- 
tages of  commerce  with  the  East  to  his  own  domi- 
nions. The  attention  of  Solyman  the  Magnificent, 
his  successor,  seems  to  have  been  equally  directed 
towards  the  same  object.  More  enlightened  than 
any  monarch  of  the  Ottoman  race,  he  attended 

*  M,  I'Abbe  RavnaL 


SECT.  iv.    CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.          191 

to  all  the  transactions  of  the  European  states,  and 
had   observed  the   power  as   well  as  opulence  to 
which  the  republic  of  Venice  had  attained  by  en* 
grossing  the  commerce  with  the    East.     He  now 
beheld  Portugal  rising  towards  the  same  elevation 
by  the  same  means.     Eager  to  imitate  and  to  sup- 
plant them,  he  formed   a  scheme   suitable  to  his 
character  for  political  wisdom  and  the  appellation  of 
In&titutor  of  Rules ,  by  which  the  Turkish  historians 
have  distinguished  him,  and  established,  early  in  his 
reign,  a  system  of  commercial  laws  in  his  domi* 
nions,  by  which  he  hoped  to  render  Constantinople 
the  great  staple  of  Indian  trade,  as  it  had  been  in  the 
prosperous  ages  of  the  Greek  empire.*     For  ac- 
complishing this  scheme,  .however,  he  did  not  rely 
on  the  operation  of  laws  alone  ;  he  fitted  out  about 
the  same  time,  A.  D.  1538,  a  formidable  fleet  in 
the  Red  Sea,  under  the  conduct  of  a  confidential 
officer,  with  such  a  body  of  janizaries  on  board  of 
it,  as  he  deemed  sufficient  not  only  to  drive  the 
Portuguese   out   of   all   their  new   settlements  in 
India,  but  to  take  possession  of  some  commodious 
station  in  that  country,  and  to  erect  his  standard 
there.     The  Portuguese,  by  efforts  of  valour  and 
constancy,  entitled  to  the   splendid   success  with 
which  they  were  crowned,  repulsed  this  powerful 
armament   in   every   enterprise   it  undertook,  and 
compelled  the  shattered  remains  of  the  Turkish  fleet 


*  ParutaHist.  Venet,  lib.  vii.  p,  589.     Sandi  Stor.  Civil-, 
Venez,  part  ii.  p.  901, 


192  AN  HISTORICAL  DISQUISITION     SECT.  iv. 

and  army  to  return  with  ignominy  to  the  harbours 
from  which  they  had  taken  their  departure,  with  the 
most  sanguine  hopes  of  terminating  the  expedition 
in  a  very  different  manner  *  Solyman,  though  he 
never  relinquished  the  design  of  expelling  the  Por- 
tuguese from  India,  and  of  acquiring  some  establish- 
ment there,  was  so  occupied  during  the  remainder 
of  his  reign,  by  the  multiplicity  of  arduous  opera- 
tions in  which  an  insatiable  ambition  involved  him, 
that  he  never  had  leisure  to  resume  the  prosecution 
of  it  with  vigour. 

If  either  the  measures  of  Selim  had  produced 
the  effect  which  he  expected,  or  if  the  more 
adventurous  and  extensive  plan  of  Solyman  had 
been  carried  into  execution,  the  command  of 
the  wealth  of  India,  together  with  such  a  marine 
as  the  monopoly  of  trade  with  that  Country  has 
in  every  age  enabled  the  power  which  possessed 
it  to  create  and  maintain,  must  have  brought 
an  accession  of  force  to  an  empire  already  for* 
midable  to  mankind,  that  would  have  rendered 
it  altogether  irresistible.  Europe,  at  that  period, 
was  not  in  a  condition  to  have  defended  itself 
against  the  combined  exertions  of  such  naval  and 
military  power,  supported  by  commercial  wealth, 
and  under  the  direction  of  a  monarch  whose  com- 
prehensive genius  was  able  to  derive  from  each  it;s 
peculiar  advantages,  and  to  employ  all  with  the 
greatest  effect.  Happily  for  the  human  race,  the 

*  Asia  de  Barros,  dec.  iy.  lib.  x.  a.  1,  &c. 


SECT.  m.    CONCERNING  ANCIENT  INDIA.  193 

despotic  system  of  Turkish  government,  founded 
on  such  illiberal  fanaticism  as  has  extinguished 
science  in  Egypt,  in  Assyria,  and  in  Greece,  its 
three  favourite  mansions  in  ancient  times,  was  pre- 
vented from  extending  its  dominion  over  Europe, 
and  from  suppressing  liberty,  learning,  and  taste, 
when  beginning  to  make  successful  efforts  to  revive 
there,  and  again  to  bless,  to  enlighten,  and  to  polish 
mankind, 


2  c 


APPENDIX. 


I  SHALL  now  endeavour  to  fulfil  an  engage- 
ment which  I  came  under,*  to  make  some  observa- 
tions upon  the  genius,  the  manners,  and  institutions 
of  the  people  of  India,  as  far  as  they  can  be  traced 
from  the  earliest  ages  to  which  our  knowledge  of 
them  extends.  Were  I  to  enter  upon  this  wide 
field  with  an  intention  of  surveying  its  whole  extent; 
were  I  to  view  each  object  which  it  presents  to  a 
philosophical  inquirer,  under  all  its  different  aspects^ 
it  would  lead  me  into  researches  and  speculations, 
not  only  of  immense  length,  but  altogether  foreign 
from  the  subject  of  this  Disquisition.  My  inquiries 
and  reflections  shall  therefore  be  confined  to  what 
is  intimately  connected  with  the  design  of  this 
work.  I  shall  collect  the  facts  which  the  ancients 
have  transmitted  to  us  concerning  the  institutions 
peculiar  to  the  natives  of  India,  and  by  comparing 

*  Seepage  23, 


196  APPENDIX. 

them  with  what  we  now  know  of  that  country,  en- 
deavour to  deduce  such  conclusions  as  tend  to  point 
out  the  circumstances  which  have  induced  the  rest 
of  mankind,  in  every  age,  to  carry  on  commer- 
cial intercourse  to  so  great  an  extent  with  that 
country. 

Of  this  intercourse  there  are  conspicuous  proofs 
in  the  earliest  periods  concerning  which  history 
affords  information.  Not  only  the  people  con- 
tiguous to  India,  but  remote  nations,  seem  to 
have  been  acquainted,  from  time  immemorial,  with 
its  commodities,  and  to  have  valued  them  so  highly, 
that  in  order  to  procure  them  they  undertook 
fatiguing,  expensive,  and  dangerous  journeys. 
Whenever  men  give  a  decided  preference  to  the 
commodities  of  any  particular  country,  this  must 
be  owing  either  to  its  possessing  some  valuable* 
natural  productions  peculiar  to  its  soil  and  climate, 
or  to  some  superior  progress  which  its  inhabitants 
have  made  in  industry,  art,  and  elegance.  It  is 
not  to  any  peculiar  excellence  in  the  natural  pro- 
ductions of  India,  that  we  must  ascribe  entirely 
the  predilection  of  ancient  nations  for  its  commo  ] 
dities;  for,  pepper  excepted,  an  article,  it  must 
be  allowed,  of  great  importance,  they  are  little  dif- 
ferent from  those  of  other  tropical  countries ;  and 
Ethiopia  or  Arabia  might  have  fully  supplied  the 
phenicians,  and  other  trading  people  of  antiquity* 
with  the  spices,  the  perfumes,  the  precious  stones, 
the  gold  and  silver  which  formed  the  principal  arti- 
cles of  their  commercec 


APPENDIX.  197 

Whoever  then  wishes  to  trace  the  commerce 
with  India  to  its  source,  must  search  for  it,  not 
so  much  in  any  peculiarity  of  the  natural  pro- 
ductions  of  that  country,  as  in  the  superior  im- 
provement of  its  inhabitants.  Many  facts  have 
been  transmitted  to  us,  which,  if  they  are  examined 
with  proper  attention,  clearly  demonstrate,  that 
the  natives  of  India  were  not  only  more  early 
civilized,  but  had  made  greater  progress  in  civili- 
zation than  any  other  people.  These  I  shall  en- 
deavour to  enumerate,  and  to  place  them  in  such 
a  point  of  view  as  may  serve  both  to  throw  light 
upon  the  institutions,  manners,  and  arts  of  the 
Indians,  and  to  account  for  the  eagerness  of  all 
nations  to  obtain  the  productions  of  their  ingenious 
industry. 

By  the  ancient  Heathen  writers,  the  Indians  \vere 
reckoned  among  those  races  of  men  which  they 
denominated  Autochtones  or  Aborigines,  whom  they 
considered  as  natives  of  the  soil,  whose  origin  could 
not  be  traced.*  By  the  inspired  writers,  the 
wisdom  of  the  East,  (an  expression  which  is  to 
be  understood  as  a  description  of  their  extraor- 
dinary progress  in  science  and  arts)  was  early  ce- 
lebrated, f  In  order  to  illustrate  and  confirm  these 
explicit  testimonies  concerning  the  ancient  and 
high  civilization  of  the  inhabitants  of  India,  I  shall 
take  a  view  of  their  rank  and  condition  as  in- 
dividuals ;  of  their  civil  policy ;  of  their  laws  and 

*  Diod.  Sic.  lib.  ii.  p.  151.  f  1  Kings,  iv.  31 


19»  APPENDIX. 

judicial  proceedings;  of  their  useful  and  elegant 
arts  ;  of  their  sciences ;  and  of  their  religious  insti- 
tutions ;  as  far  as  information  can  be  gathered  from 
the  accounts  of  the  Greek  and  Roman  writers,  com- 
pared with  what  still  remains  of  their  ancient  acquire- 
ments  and  institutions. 

I.  From  the  most  ancient  accounts  of  India, 
we  learn,  that  the  distinction  of  ranks  and  se- 
paration of  professions  were  completely  established 
there.  This  is  one  of  the  most  undoubted  proofs 
of  a  society  considerably  advanced  in  its  progress. 
Arts  in  the  early  stages  of  social  life  are  so  few, 
and  so  simple  that  each  man  is  sufficiently  master 
of  them  all,  to  gratify  every  demand  of  his  own 
limited  desires.  A  savage  can  form  his  bow,  point 
his  arrows,  rear  his  hut,  and  hollow  his  canoe,  with- 
out  calling  in  the  aid  of  any  hand  more  skilful  than 
his  own.*  But  when  time  has  augmented  the  wants 
of  men,  the  productions  of  art  become  so  compli- 
cated in  their  structure,  or  so  curious  in  their  fabric, 
that  a  particular  course  of  education  is  requisite 
towards  forming  the  artist  to  ingenuity  in  contri- 
vance and  expertness  in  execution.  In  proportion 
as  refinement  spreads,  the  distinction  of  professions 
increases,  and  they  branch  out  into  more  numerous 
and  minute  subdivisions.  Prior  to  the  records  of 
authentic  history,  and  even  before  the  most  remote 
era  to  which  their  own  traditions  pretend  to  reach, 
this  separation  of  professions  had  not  only  taken 

*  Hist,  of  Amev.  \o\.  Hi.  165, 


APPENDIX.  199 

place  among  the  natives  of  India,  but  the  perpetuity 
of  it  was  secured  by  an  institution,  which  must  be 
considered  as  the  fundamental  article  in  the  system 
of  their  policy.  The  whole  body  of  the  people 
was  divided  into  four  orders  or  casts.  The  mem- 
bers of  the  first,  deemed  the  most  sacred,  had  it 
for  their  province  to  study  the  principles  of  re- 
ligion ;  to  perform  its  functions ;  and  to  cultivate 
the  sciences.  They  were  the  priests,  the  instruc- 
ters  and  philosophers  of  the  nation.  The  mem- 
bers of  the  second  order  were  intrusted  with  the 
government  and  defence  of  the  state.  In  peace 
they  were  its  rulers  and  magistrates ;  in  war  they 
were  the  generals  who  commanded  its  armies  and 
the  soldiers  who  fought  its  battles.  The  third  was 
composed  of  husbandmen  and  merchants  ;  and  the 
the  fourth,  of  artisans,  labourers,  and  servants. 
None  of  these  can  ever  quit  his  own  cast,  or  be 
admittted  into  another.*  The  station  of  every 
individual  is  unalterably  fixed ;  his  destiny  is  irre- 
vocable ;  and  the  walk  of  life  is  marked  out  from 
which  he  must  never  deviate.  This  line  of  se- 
paration is  not  only  established  by  civil  authority, 
but  confirmed  and  sanctioned  by  religion,  and 
each  order  or  cast  is  said  to  have  proceeded  from 
the  Divinity  in  such  a  different  manner,  that  to 
mingle  and  confound  them  would  be  deemed  an 


*  Ayeen  Akbery,  iii.  81,    &e.     Sketches  relating  to  the 
History,  &c.  of  the  Hindoos,  p.  107,  &c. 


200  APPENDIX. 

act  of  most  daring  impiety.*  Nor  is  it  between 
the  four  different  tribes  alone  that  such  insuperable 
barriers  are  fixed ;  the  members  of  each  cast  adhere 
invariably  to  the  profession  of  their  forefathers.  From 
generation  to  generation  the  same  families  have  fol- 
lowed, and  will  always  continue  to  follow  one  uni- 
form line  of  life. 

Such  arbitrary  arrangements  of  the  various 
members  which  compose  a  community,  seem, 
at  first  view,  to  be  adverse  to  improvement  either 
in  science  or  in  arts ;  and  by  forming  around  the 
different  orders  of  men  artificial  barriers,  which 
it  would  be  impious  to  pass,  tend  to  circumscribe 
the  operations  of  the  human  mind  within  a  nar- 
rower sphere  than  nature  has  allotted  to  them. 
When  every  man  is  at  full  liberty  to  direct  his 
efforts  towards  those  objects  and  that  end  which 
the  impulse  of  his  own  mind  prompts  him  to  pre- 
fer, he  may  be  expected  to  attain  that  high  de- 
gree of  eminence  to  which  the  uncontrolled  exer- 
tions of  genius  and  industry  naturally  conduct. 
The  regulations  of  Indian  policy,  with  respect  to 
the  different  orders  of  men,  must  necessarily,  at 
some  times,  check  genius  in  its  career,  and  con- 
fine to  the  functions  of  an  inferior  cast,  talents 
fitted  to  shine  in  an  higher  sphere.  But  the  ar- 
rangements of  civil  government  are  made,  not  for 
what  is  extraordinary,  but  for  what  is  common ; 
not  for  the  few,  but  for  the  many.  The  object 

*  See  NOTE  LVIIL 


APPENDIX.  2Gi 

of  the  first  Indian  legislators  was  to  employ  the 
most  effectual  means  of  providing  for  the  subsist- 
ence,  the  security,  and  happiness  of  all  the  mem- 
bers of  the  community  over  which  they  presided. 
With  this   view   they   set    apart   certain   races   of 
men   for    each    of    the    various    professions   and 
arts  necessary  in  a  well  ordered  society,   and  ap- 
pointed  the   exercise   of  them  to  be   transmitted 
from  father  to  son   in   succession.     This   system, 
though  extremely  repugnant   to  the   ideas    which 
we,   by  being  placed  in  a  very   different  state  of 
society,  have  formed,  will  be  found,  upon  atten- 
tive inspection,  but  better  adapted  to  attain  the  end 
in   view,  than  a  careless   observer,   at  first  sight, 
is  apt  to  imagine-     The  human   mind  bends   to 
the  law  of  necessity,  and  is  accustomed,  not  only 
to    accommodate   itself    to    the   restraints    which 
the   condition  of  its   nature,  or  the  institutions  of 
its    country,    impose,    but  to  acquiesce   in    them. 
From  his  entrance  into  life,  an  Indian  knows  the 
station  allotted  to  him,  and  the  functions  to  which 
he  is  destined  by  his  birth.     The  objects  which  re- 
late to  these,  are  the  first  that  present  themselves 
to  his  view.     They  occupy  his  thoughts,  or  em- 
ploy his  hands ;  and  from  his  earliest  years,  he  is 
trained  to  the  habit  of  doing  with  ease  and  pleasure, 
that  which  he  must  continue  through  life  to  do. 
To  this  may  be  ascribed  that  high  degree  of  per« 
fection  conspicuous  in  many  of  the  Indian  manu- 
factures ;  and  though  veneration  for  the  practices 
of  their  ancestors  may  check  the  spirit  of  inven- 
tion, yet,  by  adhering  to  these,  they  acquire  such 

2  D 


APPENDIX, 

an  expertness  and  delicacy  of  hand,  that  Europeans, 
with  all  the  advantages  of  superior  science,  and 
the  aid  of  more  complete  instruments,  have  never 
been  able  to  equal  the  exquisite  execution  of 
their  workmanship.  While  this  high  improve- 
ment of  their  more  curious  manufactures  excited 
the  admiration,  and  attracted  the  commerce  of 
other  nations,  the  separation  of  professions  in  India, 
and  the  early  distribution  of  the  people  into 
classes,  attached  to  particular  kinds  of  labour,  se- 
cured such  abundance  of  the  more  common  and 
useful  commodities,  as  not  only  supplied  their  own 
wants,  but  ministered  to  those  of  the  countries 
around  them. 

To  this  early  division  of  the  people  into  casts, 
we  must  likewise  ascribe  a  striking  peculiarity  in 
the  state  of  India;  the  permanence  of  its  institu- 
tions, and  the  immutability  in  the  manners  of 
Its  inhabitants.  What  now  is  in  India  always 
was  there,  and  is  likely  still  to  continue :  neither 
the  ferocious  violence  and  illiberal  fanaticism  of 
its  Mahomedan  conquerors,  nor  the  power  of  its 
European  masters,  have  effected  any  considerable 
alteration,*  The  same  distinctions  of  condition 
take  place,  the  same  arrangements  in  civil  and  do- 
mestic society  remain,  the  same  maxims  of  religion 
are  held  in  veneration,  and  the  same  sciences  and 
arts  are  cultivated.  Hence,  in  all  ages,  the  trade 
with  India  has  been  the  same  ;  gold  and  silver 

*  See  Note  LIX, 


APPENDIX.  20S 

have  uniformly  been  carried  thither  in  order  to 
purchase  the  same  commodities,  with  which  it 
now  supplies  all  nations  ;  and  from  the  age  of  Pliny 
to  the  present  times,  it  has  been  always  considered 
and  execrated  as  a  gulf  which  swallows  up  the 
wealth  of  every  other  country,  that  flows  incessantly 
towards  it,  and  from  which  it  never  returns."*  Ac- 
cording to  the  accounts  which  I  have  given  of  the- 
cargoes  anciently  imported  from  India,  they  appear 
to  have  consisted  of  nearly  the  same  articles  with 
those  of  the  investments  in  our  own  times  ;  and 
whatever  difference  we  may  observe  in  them  seems. 
to  have  arisen,  not  so  much  from  any  diversity  in 
the  nature  of  the  commodities  which  the  Indians 
prepared  for  sale,  as  from  a  variety  in  the  tastes> 
or  in  the  wants  of  the  nations  which  demanded 
them. 

II.  Another  proof  of  the  early  and  high 
civilization  of  the  people  of  India,  may  be  de- 
duced from  considering  their  political  constitution 
and  form  of  government.  The  Indians  trace  back 
the  history  of  their  own  country  through  an  im- 
mense succession  of  Ages,  and  assert,  that  all  Asia, 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Indus  on  the  west  to  the 
confines  of  China  on  the  east,  and  from  the  moun- 
tains of  Thibet  on  the  north,  to  cape  Comorin 
on  the  south,  formed  a  vast  empire,  subject  to 
one  mighty  sovereign,  under  whom  ruled  several 
hereditary  princes  and  rajahs.  But  their  chro- 


NOTE  I-X. 


fc'04  APPENDIX. 

nology,  which  measures  the  life  of  man  in  ancient 
times  by  thousands  of  years,  and  -computes  the 
length  of  the  several  periods,  during  which  it 
supposes  the  world  to  have  existed,  by  millions, 
is  so  wildly  extravagant,  as  not  to  merit  any  se- 
rious discussion.  We  must  rest  satisfied,  then, 
until  some  more  certain  information  is  obtained 
with  respect  to  the  ancient  history  of  India,  with 
taking  the  first  accounts  of  that  country,  which 
can  be  deemed  authentic,  from  the  Greeks  who 
served  under  Alexander  the  Great.  They  foun<f 
kingdoms  of  considerable  magnitude  established 
in  that  country.  The  territories  of  Porus  and  of 
Taxiles  comprehended  a  great  part  of  the  Panjab, 
one  of  the  most  fertile  and  best  cultivated  countries 
in  India.  The  kingdom  of  the  Prasij,  or  Gan- 
daridae,  stretched  to  a  great  extent  on  both  sides- 
of  the  Ganges.  All  the  three,  as  appears  from 
the  ancient  Greek  writers,  were  powerful  and 
populous. 

This  description  of  the  partition  of  India  into 
states  of  such  magnitude,  is  alone  a  convincing 
proof  of  its  having  advanced  far  in  civilization. 
In  whatever  region  of  the  earth  there  has  been  an 
opportunity  of  observing  the  progress  of  men  in 
social  life,  they  appear  at  first  in  small  independ- 
ent tribes  or  communities.  Their  common  wants 
prompt  them  to  unite ;  and  their  mutual  jealousies, 
as  well  as  the  necessity  of  securing  subsistence, 
compel  them  to  drive  to  a  distance  every  rival 
'vho  might  encroach  on  those  domains  which 


APPENDIX.  20i 

they  consider  as  their  own.  Many  ages  elapse 
before  they  coalesce,  or  acquire  a  sufficient  fore- 
sight to  provide  for  the  wants,  or  sufficient  wis- 
dom to  conduct  the  affairs  of  a  numerous  society, 
even  under  the  genial  climate,  and  in  the  rich  soil 
of  India,  more  favourable  perhaps  to  the  union  and 
increase  of  the  human  species  than  any  other 
part  of  the  globe,  the  formations  of  such  extensive 
states,  as  were  established  in  that  country  when 
first  visited  by  Europeans,  must  have  been  a  work 
of  long  time  ;  and  the  members  of  them  must 
have  been  long  accustomed  to  exertions  of  useful 
industry. 

Though  monarchical  government  was  establish- 
ed  in  all  the  countries  oi  India  to  which  the  know- 
ledge of  the  ancients  extended,  the  sovereigns 
were  far  from  possessing  uncontrolled  or  des- 
potic power.  No  trace,  indeed,  is  discovered 
there,  of  any  assembly,  or  public  body,  the  mem- 
bers of  which,  either  in  their  own  right,  or  as  re- 
presentatives of  their  fellow  citizens,  could  inter- 
pose in  enacting  laws,  or  in  superintending  the 
execution  of  them.  Institutions  destined  to  assert 
and  guard  the  rights  belonging  to  men  in  social 
state,  how  familiar  soever  the  idea  may  be  to  the 
people  of  Europe,  never  formed  a  part  of  the  po- 
litical constitution  in  any  great  Asiatic  kingdom. 
It  was  to  different  principles  that  the  natives  of 
India  were  indebted  for  restrictions  which  limited 
the  exercise  of  regal  power.  The  rank  o  indi- 
viduals was  unalterably  fixed,  and  the  privileges  of 


206  APPENDIX. 

the  different  casts  were  deemed  inviolable.  The. 
monarchs  of  India,  who  were  all  taken  from  the 
second  of  the  four  classes  formerly  described, 
which  is  intrusted  with  the  functions  of  govern- 
ment  and  exercise  of  war,  behold  among  their  sub- 
jects an  order  of  men  far  superior  to  themselves  in* 
dignity,  and  so  conscious  of  their  own  pre-emi- 
nence, both  in  rank  and  in  sanctity,  that  they  would 
deem  it  degradation  and  pollution,  if  they  were 
to  eat  of  the  same  food  with  their  sovereign.* 
Their  persons  are  sacred,  and  even  for  the  most 
heinous  crimes,  they  cannot  be  capitally  punished ; 
their  blood  must  never  be  shed.f  To  men  in 
this  exalted  station  monarchs  must  look  up  with 
respect,  and  reverence  them  as  the  ministers  of  re- 
ligion, and  the  teachers  of  wisdom.  On  impor- 
tant occasions,  it  is  the  duty  of  sovereigns  to 
consult  them,  and  to  be  directed  by  their  advice. 
Their  admonitions,  and  even  their  censures,  must 
be  received  with  submissive  respect.  This  right 
of  the  Brahmins  to  offer  their  opinion  with  re- 
spect to  the  administration  of  public  affairs  was 
not  unknown  to  the  ancients  ;J  and  in  some  ac- 
counts preserved  in  India  of  the  events  which 
happened  in  their  country,  princes  are  mentioned, 
who,  having  violated  the  privileges  of  the  casts, 
and  disregarded  the  remonstrances  of  the  Brah- 


*  Orme's  Dissert,  vol.  i.  p.  4.  Sketches,  Sec.  p.  11 
f  Code  of  Gentoo  Laws.  ch.  xxi.  §  10.  p.  275,  283, 
}  Strabo,  lib.  xv.  p.  1029.  C 


APPENDIX.  207 

mins,  were  disposed  by  their  authority,  and  put  to 
death.* 

While  the  sacred  rights  of  the  Brahmins  op- 
posed a  barrier  against  the  encroachments  of  regal 
power  on  the  one  hand,  it  was  circumscribed  on. 
the  other  by  the  ideas  which  those  who  occupied 
the  highest  stations  in  society  entertained  of  their 
own  dignity  and  privileges.  As  none  but  the 
members  of  the  cast  next  in  rank  to  that  which  re- 
ligion has  rendered  sacred,  could  be  employed  in 
any  function  of  the  state,  the  sovereigns  of  the  ex- 
tensive kingdoms  anciently  established  in  India, 
found  it  necessary  to  intrust  them  with  the  superin- 
tendence of  the  cities  and  provinces  too  remote  to 
be  under  their  own  immediate  inspection.  In  these 
stations  they  often  acquired  such  wealth  and  in- 
fluence, that  offices  conferred  during  pleasure,  con- 
tinued hereditarily  in  their  families,  and  they  came 
gradually  to  form  an  intermediate  order  between 
the  sovereign  and  his  subjects ;  and,  by  the  vigilant 
jealousy  with  which  they  maintained  their  own  dig- 
nity of  privileges,  they  Constrained  their  rulers  to 
respect  them,  and  to  govern  with  moderation  and 
equity. 

Nor  were  the  benefits  of  these  restraints  upon  the 
power  of  the  sovereign  confined  wholly  to  the  two 
superior  orders  in  the  state ;  they  extended,  in  some 


*  Account  of  the  Qualities  requisite  in  a  Magistrate, 
prefixed  by  the  Pundits  to  the  Code  of  Gentoo  Laws,  p.  cii. 
and  cxvi. 


208  APPENDIX. 

degree,  to  the  third  class  employed  in  agriculture , 
The  labours  of  that  numerous  and  useful  body  of 
men  are  so  essential  to  the  preservation  and  happi- 
ness of  society,  that  the  greatest  attention  was  paid 
to  render  their  condition  secure  and  comfortable. 
According  to  the  ideas  which  prevailed  among  the 
natives  of  India  (as  we  are  informed  by  the  first  Eu- 
ropeans who  visited  their  country,)  the  sovereign  is 
considered  as  the  sole  universal  proprietor  of  all 
the  land  in  his  dominions,  and  from  him  is  derived 
every  species  of  tenure  by  which  his  subjects  can 
hold  it.  These  lands  were  let  out  to  the  farmers 
who  cultivated  them,  at  a  stipulated  rent,  amount- 
ing usually  to  a  fourth  part  of  their  annual  pro- 
duce paid  in  kind.*  In  a  country  where  the  price 
of  work  is  extremely  low,  and  where  the  labour  of 
cultivation  is  very  inconsiderable,  the  earth  yield- 
ing its  productions  almost  spontaneously,  where 
subsistence  is  amazingly  cheap,  where  few  clothes 
are  needed,  and  houses  are  built  and  furnished  at 
little  expense,  this  rate  cannot  be  deemed  exorbi- 
tant or  oppressive.  As  long  as  the  husbandman 
continued  to  pay  the  established  rent,  he  retain- 
ed possession  of  the  farm,  which  descended,  like 
property,  from  father  to  son. 

Thes^  accounts  given  by  ancient  authors  of  the 
condition  and  tenure  of  the  renters  of  land  in  India, 
agree  so  perfectly  with  what  now  takes  place,  that 
it  may  be  considered  almost  as  a  description  of  the 

•*  Strabo,  lib.  xv.  p.  1030,  A.     Dio<J.  Sic,  lib.  ii.  p.  5B-, 


APPENDIX.  -9 

present  state  of  its  cultivation.  In  every  part  of 
India  where  the  native  Hindoo  princes  retain  domi- 
nion, the  ryots,  the  modern  name  by  which  the 
renters  of  land  are  distinguished,  hold  their  posses- 
sions  by  a  lease,  :  which  may  be  considered  as  per- 
petual, and  at  a  rate  fixed  by  ancient  surveys  and 
valuations.  This  arrangement  has  been  so  long 
established,  and  accords  so  well  with  the  ideas  of 
the  natives,  concerning  the  distinctions  of  casts,  and 
the  functions  allotted  to  each,  that  it  has  been  in- 
violably maintained  in  all  the  provinces  subject  either 
to  Mahomedans  or  Europeans;  and,  to  both  it 
serves  as  the  basis  on  which  their  whole  system  of 
finance  is  founded.*  In  a  more  remote  period, 
before  the  original  institutions  of  India  were  sub- 
verted by  foreign  invaders  the  industry  of  the  hus- 
bandmen, on  which  every  member  of  the  community 
depended  for  subsistence,  was  as  secure  as  the  ten- 
nure  by  which  he  held  his  lands  was  equitable.  Even 
war  did  not  interrupt  his  labours  or  endanger  his 
property.  It  was  not  uncommon,  we  are  informed, 
that  while  two  hostile  armies  were  fighting  a  battle 
in  one  field,  the  peasants  were  ploughing  or  reaping 
in  the  next  field  in  perfect  tranquillity,  f  These 
maxims  and  regulations  of  the  ancient  legislators 
of  India  have  a  near  resemblance  to  the  system  of 
those  ingenious  speculators  on  political  economy 
in  modern  times,  who  represent  the  produce  of  land 
as  the  sole  source  of  wealth  in  every  country  ;  and 
•who  consider  the  discovery  of  this  principle,  accord  - 


*  S«e  NOTE  LXI.        t  Strabo,  lib.  XY,  p.  1030. 
2E 


210  APPENDIX. 

ing  to  which  they  contend  that  the  government  of 
nations  should  be  conducted,  as  one  of  the  greatest 
efforts  of  human  wisdom.  Under  a  form  of  govern- 
ment, which  paid  such  attention  to  all  the  different 
orders  of  which  the  society  is  composed,  particu- 
larly the  cultivators  of  the  earth,  it  is  not  wonderful 
that  the  ancients  should  describe  the  Indians  as  a 
most  happy  race  of  men  :  and  that  the  most  intelli- 
gent modern  observers  should  celebrate  the  equity, 
the  humanity,  and  mildness  of  Indian  policy.  A 
Hindoo  rajah,  as  I  have  been  informed  by  persons 
well  acquainted  with  the  state  of  India,  resemble* 
more  a  father  presiding  in  a  numerous  family  of  his 
own  children,  than  a  sovereign  ruling  over  inferiors, 
subject  to  his  dominion.  He  endeavours  to  secure 
their  happiness  with  vigilant  solicitude  ;  they  are 
attached  to  him  with  the  most  tender  affection  and 
inviolable  fidelity.  We  can  hardly  conceive  men 
to  be  placed  in  any  state  more  favourable  to  their 
acquiring  all  the  advantages  derived  from  social 
union.  It  is  only  when  the  mind  is  perfectly  at 
case,  and  neither  feels  nor  dreads  oppression,  that  it 
employs  its  active  powers  in  forming  numerous 
arrangements  of  police,  for  securing  its  enjoyments 
and  increasing  them.  Many  arrangements  of  this 
nature  the  Greeks,  though  accustomed  to  their  own 
institutions,  the  most  perfect  at  that  time  in  Europe^ 
observed  and  admired  among  the  Indians,  and  men- 
tion them  as  instances  of  high  civilization  and  im- 
provement. There  were  established  among  the  In- 
dians three  distinct  classes  of  officers,  one  of  which 
had  it  in  charge  to  inspect  agriculture,  and  every 


APPENDIX.  311 

kind  of  country  work.  They  measured  the  por- 
tions of  land  allotted  to  each  renter.  They  had  the 
custody  of  the  tanks,  or  public  reservoirs  of  water, 
without  a  regular  distribution  of  which,  the  fields 
in  a  torrid  climate  cannot  be  rendered  fertile. 
They  marked  out  the  course  of  the  highways,  along 
which,  at  certain  distances,  they  erected  stones,  to 
measure,  the  road  and  direct  travellers.*  To  officers 
of  a  second  class  was  committed  the  inspection  of 
the  police  in  cities;  their  functions,  of  course,  were 
many  and  various  ;  some  of  which  only  I  shall  spe- 
cify. They  appropriated  houses  for  the  reception 
of  strangers  ;  they  protected  them  from  injury,  pro- 
vided for  their  subsistence,  and,  when  seized  with 
any  disease,  they  appointed  physicians  to  attend 
them ;  and,  on  the  event  of  their  death,  they  not 
only  buried  them  with  decency,  but  took  charge 
of  their  effects,  and  restored  them  to  their  relations. 
They  kept  exact  registers  of  births  and  of  deaths. 
They  visited  the  public  markets,  and  examined 
weights  and  measures.  The  third  class  of  officers 
superintended  the  military  department ;  but,  as  the 
objects  to  which  their  attention  was  directed  are 
foreign  from  the  subject  of  my  inquiries,  it  is  un- 
necessary to  enter  into  any  detail  with  respect 
to  them.| 

As  manners  and  customs  in  India  descend  al- 
most without  variation  from  age  to  age,  many  of 


*  See  NOTE  LXII. 

t  Strabo,  lib.  xv.  p.  1034.  A,  &c.  Diod.  Sicul,  lib,  ii.  p.  154. 


2 12  APPENDIX, 

the  peculiar  institutions  which  I  have  enumerated 
still  subsist  there.  There  is  still  the  same  attention 
to  the  construction  and  preservation  of  tanks,  and 
the  distribution  of  their  waters.  The  direction  of 
roads,  and  placing  stones  along  them,  is  still  an  ob- 
ject of  police.  Choultries  or  houses  built  for  the 
accommodation  of  travellers,  are  frequent  in  every 
part  of  the  country,  and  are  useful  as  well  as  noble 
monuments  of  Indian  munificence  and  humanity. 
It  is  only  among  men  in  the  most  improved  state  of 
society,  and  under  the  best  forms  of  government, 
that  we  discover  institutions  similar  to  those  which 
I  have  described ;  and  many  nations  have  advanced 
far  in  their  progress,  without  establishing  arrange- 
ments of  police  equally  perfect. 

III.  In  estimating  the  progress  which  any  nation 
has  made  in  civilization,  the  object  that  merits  the 
greatest  degree  of  attention,  next  to  its  political  conf 
stitution,  is  the  spirit  of  the  laws  and  nature  of  the 
forms  by  which  its  judicial  proceedings  are  regu- 
lated. In  the  early  and  rude  ages  of  society,  the 
few  disputes  with  respect  to  property  which  arise, 
are  terminated  by  the  interposition  of  the  old  men, 
or  by  the  authority  of  the  chiefs  in  every  small  tribe 
or  community ;  their  decisions  are  dictated  by  their 
own  discretion,  or  founded  on  plain  and  obvious 
maxims  of  equity.  But  as  the  controversies  multi- 
ply, cases  similar  to  such  as  have  been  formerly  de- 
termined must  recur,  and  the  awards  upon  these 
grow  gradually  into  precedents,  which  serve  to  re- 
gulate future  judgments.  Thus  long  before  the 


APPENDIX.  213 

nature  of  property  as  defined  by  positive  statutes, 
or  any  rules  prescribed  concerning  the  mode  of  ac- 
quiring or  conveying  it,  there  is  gradually  formed, 
in  every  state,  a  body  of  customary  or  common 
law,  by  which  judicial  proceedings  are  directed,  and 
every  decision  conformable  to  it  is  submitted  to 
with  reverence,  as  the  result  of  the  accumulated  wisr 
dom  and  experience  of  ages. 

In  this  state  the  administration  of  justice  seems  to 
have  been  in  India  when  first  visited  by  Europeans. 
Though  the  Indians,  according  to  their  account, 
had  no  written  laws,  but  determined  every  contro- 
verted point,  by  recollecting  what  had  been  former- 
ly decided  ;*  they  assert,  that  justice  was  dispensed 
among  them  with  great  accuracy,  and  that  crimes 
Were  most  severely  punished,  f  But  in  this  general 
observation  is  contained  all  the  intelligence  which 
the  ancients  furnish  concerning  the  nature  and  forms 
of  judicial  proceedings  in  India.  From  the  time 
of  Megasthenes,  no  Greek  or  Roman  of  any  note 
appears  to  have  resided  long  enough  in  the  country, 
or  to  have  been  so  much  acquainted  with  the 
customs  of  the  natives,  as  to  be  capable  of  enter- 
ing into  any  detail  with  respect  to  a  point  of  so 
great  importance  in  their  policy.  Fortunately,  the 
defects  of  their  information  have  been  amply  sup- 
plied by  the  more  accurate  and  extensive  researches 


*  Strabo,  lib.  xv.  1035.  D. 
f  Diod.  Sicul.  lib.  il  p.  154. 


2,14  APPENDIX. 

^of  the  moderns.  During  the  course  of  almost, 
three  centuries,  the  number  of  persons  who  have 
resorted  from  Europe  to  India  has  been  great. 
Many  of  them,  who  have  remained  long  in  the 
country,  and  were  persons  of  liberal  education  and 
enlarged  minds,  have  lived  in  such  familiar  inter- 
course with  the  natives,  and  acquired  so  competent 
a  knowledge  of  their  languages,  as  enabled  them  to 
observe  their  institutions  with  attention,  and  to  de- 
scribe them  with  fidelity.  Respectable  as  their  au- 
thority may  be,  I  shall  not,  in  what  I  offer  for  illus- 
trating the  judicial  proceedings  of  the  Hindoos,  rest 
upon  it  alone,  but  shall  derive  my  information 
from  sources  higher  and  more  pure. 

Towards  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
Akber,  the  sixth  in  descent  from  Tamerlane,  mount- 
ed the  throne  of  Indostan.  He  is  one  of  the  few 
sovereigns  entitled  to  the  appellation  both  of  Great 
and  Good,  and  the  only  one  of  Mahomedan  race, 
whose  mind  appears  to  have  arisen  so  far  above  all 
the  illiberal  prejudices  of  that  fanatical  religion  in 
which  he  was  educated,  as  to  be  capable  of  forming 
a  plan  worthy  of  a  monarch  who  loved  his  people, 
and  was  -solicitous  to  render  them  happy.  As,  in 
every  province  of  his  extensive  dominions,  the  Hin- 
doos formed  the  great  body  of  his  subjects,  he  la- 
boured to  acquire  a  perfect  knowledge  of  their  re- 
ligion, their  sciences,  their  laws,  and  institutions ; 
in  order  that  he  might  conduct  every  part  of  his  go- 
vernment, particularly  the  administration  of  justice. 


APPENDIX.  215 

iii  a  manner  as  much  accommodated  as  possible  to 
their  own  ideas. *  In  this  generous  undertaking  he 
was  seconded  with  zeal  by  his  vizier  Abul  Fazel,  a 
minister  whose  understanding  was  notless  enlighten- 
ed than  that  of  his  master.  By  their  assiduous  re- 
searches, and  consultation  of  learned  men,  f  such  in- 
formation was  obtained  as  enabled  Abul  Fazel  to 
publish  a  brief '.compendium  of  Hindoo  jurisprudence 
in  the  Ayeen  Akbery,f  which  may  be  considered 
as  the  first  genuine  communication  ot  its  principles 
to  persons  of  a  different  religion.  About  two  cen- 
turies afterwards,  the  illustrious  example  of  Akber 
\vas  imitated  and  surpassed  by  Mr.  Hastings,  the 
governor- general  of  the  British  settlements  in  India. 
By  his  authority,  and  under  his  inspection,  the  most 
eminent  Pundits,  or  Brahmins  learned  in  the  laws, 
of  the  provinces  over  which  he  presided,  were  as- 
sembled at  Calcutta,  A.D-  1773 ;  and,  in  the  course 
two  years,  compiled,  from  their  most  ancient  and 
approved  authors,  sentence  by  sentence,  without 
addition  or  diminution,  a  full  code  of  Hindoo 
Iaws;§  which  is,  undoubtedly,  the  most  valua- 
ble and  authentic  elucidation  of  Indian  policy  and 
manners  that  has  been  hitherto  communicated  to 
Europe. 

According  to  the  Pundits,  some  of  the  writers 
upon  whose  authority  they  found  the  decrees  which 
they  have  inserted  in  the  code,  lived  several  millions 


*  See  NOTE  LXIII.  f  Ayeen  Akbeiy,  A.  vol.  iifc 

p.  95.         ,        |  Vol.  Ui.  p.   197,  &c.  §  Preface  to  the 

Code,  p.  x, 


216  APPENDIX. 

of  years  before  their  time  ;*  and  they  boast  of  hav- 
ing a  succession  of  expounders  :of  their  laws  from  that 
period  to  the  present.  Without  entering  into  any 
examination  of  what  is  so  extravagant,  we  may  con- 
clude, that  the  Hindoos  have  in  their  possession  trea- 
tises concerning  the  laws  and  jurisprudence  of  their 
country,  of  more  remote  antiquity  than  are  to  be 
found  in  any  other  nation.  The  truth  of  this  de- 
pends not  upon  their  own  testimony  alone,  but  it  is 
put  beyond  doubt  by  one  circumstance,  that  all 
/  these  treatises  are  written  in  the  Sanskreet  language, 
which  has  not  been  spoken  for  many  ages  in  ..ny 
part  of  Indostan,  and  is  now  understood  by  none 
but  the  most  learned  Brahmins*  That  the  Hin- 
doos were  a  people  highly  civilized,  at  the  time 
when  their  laws  were  composed,  is  most  clearly  es- 
tablished by  internal  evidence  contained  in  the  Code 
itself.  Among  nations  beginning  to  emerge  from 
barbarism,  the  regulations  of  law  are  extremely 
simple,  and  applicable  only  to  a  few  obvious  cases 
of  daily  occurrence.  Men  must  have  been  long 
united  in  a  social  state,  their  transactions  must  have 
been  numerous  and  complex,  and  judges  must  have 
determined  an  immense  variety  of  controversies  to 
which  these  give  rise,  before  the  system  of  law  be- 
comes so  voluminous  and  comprehensive  as  to  direct 
the  judicial  proceedings  of  a  nation  far  advanced  in  im- 
provement. In  that  early  age  of  the  Romans  repub- 
lic, when  the  laws  of  the  Twelve  Tables  were  pro- 
mulgated., nothing  more  was  required  than  the  laconic 

*  Preface  to  the  Code,  p,  xxxviii. 


APPENDIX.  2*7 

injunctions  which  they  contain  for  regulating  the  de- 
cisions of  courts  of  justice ;  but,  in  a  latter  period,  the 
body  of  civil  law,  ample  as  its  contents  are,  was  found 
hardly  sufficient  for  that  purpose.  To  the  jejune 
brevity  of  the  twelve  tables,  the  Hindoo  code  has 
no  resemblance,  but  with  respect  to  the  number  and 
variety  of  points  it  considers,  it  will  bear  a  compa- 
rison with  the  celebrated  Digest  of  Justinian  ;  or 
with  the  systems  of  jurisprudence  in  nations  most 
highly  civilized.  The  articles  of  which  the  Hindoo 
Code  is  composed  are  arranged  in  natural  and  lu- 
minous order.  They  are  numerous  and  comprehen- 
sive,  and  investigated  with  that  minute  attention  and 
discernment  which  are  natural  to  a  people  distin- 
guished for  acuteness  and  subtility  of  understanding, 
who  have  been  long  accustomed  to  the  accuracy  of 
judicial  proceedings,  and  acquainted  with  all  the 
refinements  of  legal  practice.  The  decisions  con- 
cerning every  point  (with  a  few  exceptions  occa- 
sioned by  local  prejudices  and  peculiar  customs)  are 
founded  upon  the  great  and  immutable  principles 
of  justice  which  the  human  mind  acknowledges  and 
respects,  in  every  age,  and  in  all  parts  of  the  earth. 
Whoever  examines  the  whole  work,  cannot  enter- 
tain a  doubt  of  its  containing  the  jurisprudence  of 
an  enlightened  and  commercial  people.  Whoever 
looks  into  any  particular  title,  will  be  surprised  with 
a  minuteness  of  detail  and  nicety  of  distinction, 
which,  in  many  instances,  seem  to  go  beyond  the 
attention  of  European  legislation  ;  and  it  is  remark- 
able  that  some  of  the  regulations  which  indicate  the 
greatest  degree  of  refinement,  were  established  ir^ 


218  APPENDIX. 

periods  of  the  most  remote  antiquity.  ^  In  th*; 
first  of  the  sacred  law  tracts,  (as  is  observed  feby 
a  person  to  whom  Oriental  literature,  in  all  its 
branches,  has  been  greatly  indebted,)  which  the 
Hindoos,  suppos^  to  have  been  revealed  by  Menu 
some  millions  of  years  ago,  there  is  a  curious 
passage  on  the  legal  interest  of  money,  and  the 
limited  rate  of  it  in  different  cases,  with  an  ex- 
ception in  regard  to  adventures  at  sea ;  an  excep- 
tion which  the  sense  of  mankind  approves,  and 
which  commerce  absolutely  requires,  though  it 
was  not  before  the  reign  of  Charles  I.  that  our 
English  jurisprudence  fully  admitted  it  in  respect 
of  maritime  contracts.*1*  It  is  likewise  worthy  of 
notice,  that  though  the  natives  of  India,  have  been 
distinguished  in  every  age  for  the  humanity  and 
mildness  of  their  disposition,  yet  such  is  the  soli- 
citude of  their  law  givers  to  preserve  the  order  and 
tranquillity  of  society,  that  the  punishments  which 
they  inflict  on  criminals  are  (agreeably  to  an  observa- 
tion of  the  ancients  already  mentioned;  extremely 
rigorous.  "  Punishment  (according  to  a  striking 
personification  in  the  Hindpo  Code,)  is  the  magis- 
trate ;  punishment  is  the  inspirer  of  terror ;  pu- 
nishment is  the  nourisher  of  the  subjects  ;  punish- 
ment is  the  defender  from  calamity ;  punishment 
is  the  guardian  of  those  that  sleep ;  punishment 

with   a  black  aspect   and  a   red  eye,  terrifies   the 

guilty.  I 

*Sir  V/illiam  Jone:>  s  Third    Discourse,  Asijit.  Research 
y.   423. 
ICode,  «3h,  xxi,  $  8: 


APPENDIX  219 

IV.  As  the  condition  of  the  ancient  inhabitants 
of  India,  whether  we  consider  them  as  individuals 
or  as  members  of  society,  appears,  from  the  prece- 
ding investigation,  to  have  been  extremely  favour- 
able to  the  cultivation  of  useful  and  elegant  arts ; 
we  are  naturally  led  to  inquire,  whether  the  pro- 
gress which  they  actually  made  in  them,  was  such 
as  might  have  been  expected  from  a  people  in  that 
situation.  In  attempting  to  trace  this  progress  we 
have  not  the  benefit  of  guidance  equal  to  that  which 
conducted  our  researches  concerning  the  former 
articles  of  inquiry.  The  ancients,  from  their  slender 
acquaintance  with  the  interior  state  of  India,  have 
been  able  to  communicate  little  information  with, 
respect  to  the  arts  cultivated  there  ;  and  though  the 
moderns,  during  their  continued  intercourse  with 
India  for  three  centuries,  have  had  access  to  observe 
them  with  greater  attention,  it  is  of  late  only,  that 
by  studying  the  languages  now  and  formerly  spokea 
in  India,  and  by  consulting  and  translating  their 
most  eminent  authors,  they  have  begun  to  enter  into 
that  path  of  inquiry  which  leads  with  certainty  to  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  the  state  of  arts  cultivated  in. 
that  country. 

One  of  the  first  arts  which  human  ingenuity 
aimed  at  improving,  beyond  what  mere  necessity 
requires,  was  that  of  building.  In  the  brief  remarks 
which  the  subject  of  my  inquiries  leads  me  to  make 
on  the  progress  of  this  art  in  India,  I  shall  confine 
my  attention  wholly  to  those  of  highest  antiquity. 
The  most  durable  monuments  of  human  industry 


22(5  APPENDIX. 

are  public  buildings.  The  productions  of  art  form- 
ed for  the  common  purposes  of  life>  waste  and 
perish  in  using  them  ;  but  works  destined  for  the 
benefit  of  posterity  subsist  through  ages,  and  it  is  ac- 
cording to  the  manner  in  which  these  are  executed, 
that  we  form  a  judgment  with  respect  to  the  degree 
of  power,  skill,  and  improvement  to  which  the  peo- 
ple by  whom  they  were  erected  had  attained.  In 
every  part  of  India  monuments  of  high  antiquity 
are  found.  These  are  of  two  kinds,  such  as  were 
consecrated  to  the  offices  of  religion,  or  fortresses 
built  for  the  security  of  the  country,  In  the  former 
of  these,  to  which  Europeans,  whatever  their  struc- 
ture may  be,  give  the  general  name  of  pagodas,  we 
may  observe  a  diversity  of  style,  which  both  marks 
the  gradual  progress  of  architecture,  and  throws 
light  on  the  general  state  of  arts  and  manners  in 
different  periods,  The  most  early  pagodas  appeal' 
to  have  been  nothing  more  than  excavations:  in 
mountainous  parts  of  the  country,  formed  probably 
in  imitation  of  the  natural  caverns  to  which  the  first 
inhabitants  of  the  earth  retired  for  safety  during  the 
night,  and  where  they  found  shelter  from  the  incle- 
mency of  the  seasons.  The  most  celebrated,  and, 
as  there  is  reason  to  believe,  the  most  ancient  of  all 
these,  is  the  pagoda  in  the  island  Elephanta,  at  no 
great  distance  from  Bombay.  It  has  been  hewn 
by  the  hands  of  man  out  of  a  solid  rock,  about  half 
way  up  a  high  mountain,  and  formed  into  a  spacious 
.area,  nearly  120  feet  square.  In  order  to  support 
the  roof,  and  the  weight  of  the  mountain  that  lies 
above  it,  a  number  of  massy  pillars,  and  of  a  form 


APPENDIX.  221 

not  inelegant,  have  been  cut  out  of  the  same  rock, 
at  such  regular  distances,  as  on  the  first  entrance 
presents  to  the  eye  of  the  spectator  an  appearance 
both  of  beauty  and  of  strength.  Great  part  of  the 
inside  is  covered  with  human  figures  in  high  relief, 
of  gigantic  size  as  well  as  singular  forms,  and  distin- 
guished  by  a  variety  of  symbols,  representing,  it  is 
probable,  the  attributes  of  the  deities  whom  they 
worshipped,  or  the  actions  of  the  heroes  whom  they 
admired.  In  the  isle  of  Salsette,  style  nearer  to  Bom- 
bay, are  excavations  in  a  similar  style,  hardly  inferior 
in  magnificence,  and  destined  for  the  same  religious 
purposes. 

These  stupendous  works  are  of  such  high  anti- 
quity, that  as  the  natives  cannot,  either  from  history 
or  tradition,  give  any  information  concerning  the 
time  in  which  they  were  executed,  they  universally 
ascribe  the  formation  of  them  to  the  power  of  supe- 
rior beings.  From  the  extent  and  grandeur  of 
these  subterraneous  mansions,  which  intelligent 
travellers  compare  to  the  most  celebrated  monu- 
ments of  human  power  and  art  in  any  part  of 
the  earth,  it  is  manifest  that  they  could  not  have 
been  formed  in  that  stage  of  social  life  where  men 
continue  divided  into  small  tribes,  unaccustomed 
to  the  efforts  of  persevering  industry.  It  is  only 
in  states  of  considerable  extent,  and  among  people 
long  habituated  to  subordination,  and  to  act  with 
concert,  that  the  idea  of  such  magnificent  works  is 
conceived,  or  the  power  of  accomplishing  them  can 
be  found. 


222  APPENDIX. 

That  some  such  powerful  state  was  established 
in  India  at  the  time  when  the  excavations  in  the 
islands  of  Elephanta  and  Salsette  were  formed,  is  not 
the  only  conclusion  to  be  drawn  from  a  survey  of 
them ;  the  style  in  which  the  sculptures  with  which 
they  are  adorned  is  executed,  indicates  a  consider- 
able improvement  in  art  at  that  early  period.  Sculp- 
ture is  the  imitative  art  in  which  man  seems  to  have 
made  the  first  trial  of  his  own  talents.  But  even  in 
those  countries  where  it  has  attained  to  the  highest 
degree  of  perfection,  its  progress  has  been  extremely 
slow.  Whoever  has  attended  to  the  history  of  this 
art  in  Greece,  knows  how  far  removed  the  first  rude 
essay  to  represent  the  human  form,  was  from  any 
complete  delineation  of  it.*  But  the  different 
groups  of  figures  which  still  remain  entire  in  the 
pagoda  of  Elephanta,  however  low  they  must  rank 
if  they  be  compared  with  the  more  elegant  works 
of  Grecian  or  even  Etruscan  artists,  are  finished  in 
a  style  considerably  superior  to  the  hard  inexpressive 
manner  of  the  Egyptians,  or  to  the  figures  in  the 
celebrated  palace  of  Persepolis.  In  this  light  they 
have  appeared  to  persons  abundantly  qualified  to  ap- 
preciate their  merit,  and  from  different  drawings, 
particularly  those  of  Niebuhr,  a  traveller  equally  ac- 
curate in  observing,  and  faithful  in  describing,  we 
must  form  a  favourable  opinion  of  the  state  of  arts 
in  India  at  that  period. 

*  Winkclman's   Hist,  de  1'Art  chez  les  Anciens.  torn 


APPENDIX.  223 

It  is  worthy  of  notice,  that  although  several 
of  the  figures  in  the  caverns  at  Elephanta  be  so 
different  from  those  now  exhibited  in  the  pago- 
das as  objects  of  veneration,  that  some  learned 
Europeans  have  imagined  they  represent  the 
rites  of  a  religion  more  ancient  than  that  now 
established  in  Indostan,  yet  by  the  Hindoos  them- 
selves the  caverns  are  considered  as  hallowed 
places  of  their  own  worship,  and  they  still  resort 
thither  to  perform  their  devotions,  and  honour 
the  figures  there  in  the  same  manner  with  those 
in  their  own  pagodas.  In  confirmation  of  this, 
I  have  been  informed  by  an  intelligent  observer, 
who  visited  this  subterraneous  sanctuary  in  the 
year  1782,  that  he  was  accompanied  by  a  saga- 
cious Brahmin,  a  native  of  Benares,  who,  though 
he  had  never  been  in  it  before  that  time,  re- 
cognised, at  once,  all  the  figures ;  was  well  ac- 
quainted with  the  parentage,  education,  and  life 
of  every  deity  or  human  personage  there  repre- 
sented, and  explained  with  fluency  the  meaning 
of  the  various  symbols  by  which  the  images  were 
distinguished.  This  may  be  considered  as  a  clear 
proof  that  the  system  of  mythology  now  prevalent 
in  Benares,  is  not  different  from  that  delineated 
in  the  caverns  of  Elephanta.  Mr.  Hunter,  who 
visited  Elephanta  in  the  year  1 784,  seems  to  con-, 
3ider  the  figures  there  as  representing  deities  who 
are  still  objects  of  worship  among  the  Hindoos.* 

*  Arphseologia,  vol.  vii.  p.  286,  Sc$. 


224  APPENDIX. 

One  circumstance  serves  to  confirm  the  justness 
of  this  opinion.  Several  of  the  most  conspicuous 
personages  in  the  groups  at  Elephanta  are  deco- 
rated with  the  Zennar,  the  sacred  string  or  cord 
peculiar  to  the  order  of  Brahmins,  an  authentic  evi- 
dence of  the  distinction  of  casts  having  been  estab- 
lished in  India  at  the  time  when  these  works  were 
finished. 

2.  Instead  of  caverns,  the  original  places  of 
worship,  which  could  be  formed  only  in  particu- 
lar situations,  the  devotion  of  the  people  soon  be- 
gan to  raise  temples  in  honour  of  their  deities 
in  other  parts  of  India.  The  structure  of  these 
was  at  first  extremely  simple.  They  were  pyra- 
mids of  large  dimension,  and  had  no  light  within 
t>ut  what  came  from  a  small  door.  After  having 
been  long  accustomed  to  perform  all  the  rites  of 
religion  in  the  gloom  of  caverns,  the  Indians  were 
naturally  led  to  consider  the  solemn  darkness  of 
such  a  mansion  as  sacred.  Some  pagodas  in  this 
first  style  of  building  still  remain  in  Indostan. 
Drawings  of  two  of  these  at  Deogur,  and  of  a 
third  near  Tanjore  in  the  Carnatic,  all  fabrics 
of  great  antiquity  have  been  published  by  Mr. 
Hodges,*  and  though  they  are  rude  structures, 
they  are  of  such  magnitude  as  must  have  re- 
quired the  power  of  some  considerable  state  to  rear 
them. 


*  No  VL 


APPENDIX.  225 

3.   In  proportion  to  the  progress  of  the  different 
countries  of  India  in  opulence  and  refinement,  the 
structure   of    their    temples    gradually  improved. 
From  plain  buildings   they  became   highly  orna- 
mented  fabrics,  and,    both    by   their   extent    and 
magnificence,  are  monuments   of  the   power   and 
taste  of  the  people  by  whom  they  were  erected. 
In  this  highly  finished  style  there  are  pagodas  of 
great  antiquity  in  different  parts  of  Indostan,  parti- 
cularly in  the  southern  provinces,  which  were  not 
exposed  to  the  destructive  violence  of  Mahomedan 
zeal.*      In  order  to  assist  my  readers  in  forming 
such  an   idea  of  these  buildings   as   may  enable 
them  to  judge  with  respect  to  the  early  state  of 
arts  in  India,   I  shall  briefly  describe  two,  of  which 
we  have  the  most   accurate  accounts.      The  en- 
try to   the    pagoda   of    Chillambrum   near    Porto 
Novo  on  the  Coromandel  coast,  held  in  high  vene- 
ration on  account  of  its  antiquity,  is  by  a.  stately 
gate  under  a  pyramid  an  hundred  and  twenty -two 
feet   in    height,     built   with    large    stones    above 
forty  feet  long,   and   more  than  five   feet  square, 
and   all   covered  with   plates  of  copper,   adorned 
with  an  immense  variety  of  figures  neatly  execute 
ed.     The   whole  structure  extends  one  thousand 
three  hundred  and  thirty-two   feet   in  one   direc- 
tion,   and   nine    hundred   and    thirty- six   in    ano- 
ther.    Some  of  the   ornamental  parts  are   finished 
with  an  elegance    entitled    to   the    admiration  of 


*  See  NOTE   LXIV, 


226  APPENDIX- 

the  most  ingenious  artists.*  The  pagoda  of  So 
ringham,  superior  in  sanctity  to  that  of  Chilians 
brum,  surpasses  it  as  much  in  grandeur ;  and,  for- 
tunately, I  can  convey  a  more  perfect  idea  of  it 
by  adopting  the  words  of  an  elegant  and  accurate 
historian.  This  pagoda  is  situated  about  a  mile 
from  the  the  western  extremity  of  the  island  of 
Seringham,  formed  by  the  division  of  the  great 
river  Caveri  into  two  channels.  "It  is  composed 
of  seven  square  enclosures,  one  within  the  other, 
the  walls  of  which  are  twenty-five  feet  high, 
and  four  thick.  These  enclosures  are  three  hun- 
dred and  fifty  feet  distant  from  one  another,  and 
each  has  four  large  gates,  with  a  high  tower ; 
which  are  placed,  one  in  the  middle  of  each  side 
of  the  enclosure,  and  opposite  to  the  four  cardi- 
nal points.  The  outward  wall  is  near  four  miles 
in  circumference,  and  its  gateway  to  the  south 
is  ornamented  with  pillars,  several  of  which  are 
single  stones  thirty-three  feet  long,  and  nearly 
five  in  diameter ;  and  those  which  form  the  roof 
are  still  larger ;  in  the  inmost  enclosures  are  the 
chapels.  About  half  a  mile  to  the  east  of  Sering- 
ham,  and  nearer  to  the  Caveri  than  the  Coleroon,  is 
another  large  pagoda,  called  Jembikisma ;  but  this 
has  only  one  enclosure.  The  extreme  veneration 
in  which  Seringham  is  held,  arises  from  a  belief 
that  it  contains  that  identical  image  of  the  god 
Wistchnu,  which  used  to  be  worshipped  by  the 

*  Mem.  de  Literat.  torn,  xxxii.  p.  44,  &c.     Voy.   de  M' 
Som  erat  torn.  i  p.  217. 


.APPENDIX,  222 

god  Brahma.  Pilgrims  from  all  parts  Of  the  penin- 
sula come  here  to  obtain  absolution,  and  none 
come  without  an  offering  of  money ;  and  a  large 
part  of  the  revenue  of  the  island  is  allotted  for 
the  maintenance  of  the  Brahmins  who  inhabit 
the  Pagoda ;  and  these,  with  their  families,  formerly 
composed  a  multitude  not  less  than  forty  thousand 
souls,  maintained,  without  labour,  by  the  liberality 
of  superstition.  Here,  as  in  all  the  other  great  pa- 
godas of  India,  the  Brahmins  live  in  a  subordination 
which  knows  no  resistance,  and  slumber  in  a  volup- 
tuousness which  knows  no  wants."* 

The  other  species  of  public  buildings  which 
I  mentioned,  were  those  erected  for  the  defence 
of  the  country.  From  the  immense  plains  of 
Indostan,  there  arise,  in  different  parts,  eminences 
and  rocks  formed  by  nature  to  be  places  of 
strength.  Of  these  the  natives  early  took  posses- 
sion, and  fortifying  them  with  works  of  various 
kinds,  rendered  them  almost  impregnable  stations. 
There  seems  to  have  been,  in  some  distant  age^ 
a  period  of  general  turbulence  and  danger  in  In- 
dia,  when  such  retreats  were  deemed  essentially 
necessary  to  public  safety ;  for  among  the  duties 
of  magistrates  prescribed  by  the  Pundits,  one  is, 
<c  that  he  shall  erect  a  strong  fort  in  the  place 
where  he  chooses  to  reside ;  and  shall  build  a  wall 
on  all  the  four  sides  of  it,  with  towers  and 


*  Orme's  Hist,  of  Milit.  Transact,    of  Indostan,  vol.  L 
p.  178. 


2S8  'APPENDIX. 

battlements,  and  shall  make  a  full  ditch  around 
it."  Of  these  fortresses  several  remain,  which, 
both  from  the  appearance  of  the  buildings,  and  from 
the  tradition  of  the  natives,  must  have  been  con- 
structed in  very  remote  times.  Mr.  Hodges 
has  published  views  of  three  of  these,  one  of 
Chunar  Gur,  situated  upon  the  river  Ganges, 
about  sixteen  miles  above  the  city  of  Benares  ;f 
the  second,  of  Gwallior,  about  eighty  miles  to  the 
south  of  Agra;J  the  third  of  Bidjegur,  in  the 
territory  of  Benares.  $  They  are  all,  particularly 
Gwallior,  works  of  considerable  magnitude  and 
strength.  The  fortresses  in  Bengal,  however,  are 
not  to  be  compared  with  several  in  the  Deccan. 
Asseergur,  Burhampour,  and  Dowlatabad,  are 
deemed  by  the  natives  to  be  impregnable; If  and 
I  am  assured  by  a  good  judge,  that  Asseergur  is 
indeed  a  most  stupendous  work,  and  so  advantage- 
ously situated,  that  it  would  extremely  difficult 
to  reduce  it  by  force.  Adoni,  of  which  Tippoo 
Sultaun  lately  rendered  himself  master,  is  not 
inferior  to  any  of  them,  either  in  strength  or 
importance.** 

Nor  is  it  only  from  surveying  their  public  works 
that  we  are  justified  in  asserting  the  early  pro- 
ficiency  of  the  Indians  in  elegant  and  useful  arts : 


*  Introd.  to  Code  of  Gentoo  Laws,  p.cxi. 

f  No.  I.  J  No.  II.  §  No.  III. 

5  Rcnnell,  Mem.  p.  133.  139. 

**  Historical  and  Political  View  of  theDeccan.  p.  1" 


APPENDIX,  229 

we  are  led  to  form  the  same  conclusion  by  a  view 
of  those  productions  of  their  ingenuity,  which  were 
the  chief  articles  of  their  trade  with  foreign  nations. 
Of  these  the  labours  of  the  Indian  loom  and 
needle  have,  in  every  age,  been  the  most  cele- 
brated ;  and  fine  linen  is  conjectured  with  some 
probability,  to  have  been  called  by  the  ancients 
Sindon,  from  the  name  of  the  river  Indus  or  Sindus, 
near  which  it  was  wrought  in  the  highest  perfec- 
tion.* The  cotton  manufactures  of  India  seem 
anciently  to  have  been  as  much  admired  as  they 
are  at  present,  not  only  for  their  delicate  texture, 
but  for  the  elegance  with  which  some  of  them 
are  embroidered,  and  the  beautiful  colour  of  the 
flowers  with  which  others  are  adorned.  From 
the  earliest  period  of  European  intercourse  with 
India,  that  country  has  been  distinguished  for 
the  number  and  excellence  of  the  substances 
for  dying  various  colours,  with  which  it  abounded. f 
The  dye  of  the  deep  blue  colour  in  highest  esti- 
mation among  the  Romans,  bore  the  name  of 
Indicum.\  From  India  too,  the  substance  used  in 
dying  a  bright  red  colour,  seems  to  have  been 
imported  ;§  and  it  is  well  known  that  both  in 
the  cotton  and  silk  stuffs  which  we  now  receive 
from  India,  the  blue  and  the  red  are  the  colours 

*  Sir  William  Jones's  Third  Discourse,  p.  428. 

t  Strab.  lib.  xv.  p.  1018.  A.  1024.  B. 

\  Plin.  Nat.  Hist.  lib.  xxxv.  c.  6.  §  27. 

§  Salmasius  Exercit.  Plinianae  in  Solin.  180,  Sec.  810 
Salmasius  de  Homionymis  Hyles  Jatrica,  c.  JOT.  See 
NOTE  LXV. 


23Q  APPENDIX. 

of  most  conspicuous  lustre  and  beauty.  But  how- 
ever much  the  ancients  may  have  admired  these 
productions  of  Indian  art,  some  circumstances, 
which  I  have  already  mentioned,  rendered  their 
demand  for  the  cotton  manufactures  of  India,  far 
inferior  to  that  of  modern  times ;  and  this  has  oc- 
casioned the  information  concerning  them  which 
we  receive  from  the  Greek  and  Roman  writers  to 
be  very  imperfect.  We  may  conclude,  however, 
from  the  wonderful  resemblance  of  the  ancient 
state  of  India  to  the  modern,  that,  in  every  period, 
the  productions  of  their  looms  were  as  various  as 
beautiful.  The  ingenuity  of  the  Indians  in  other 
kinds  of  workmanship,  particularly  in  metals  and  in 
ivory,  is  mentioned  with  praise  by  ancient  authors, 
but  without  any  particular  description  of  their 
nature.*  Of  these  early  productions  of  Indian  art- 
ists, there  are  now  some  specimens  in  Europe,  from 
which  it  appears  that  they  were  acquainted  with 
the  method  of  engraving  upon  the  hardest  stones 
and  gems ;  and,  both  in  the  elegance  of  their  designs 
and  in  neatness  of  execution,  had  arrived  at  a  con- 
siderable degree  of  excellence.  An  ingenious  wri- 
ter maintains  that  the  art  of  engraving  on  gems  was 
probably  an  Indian  invention,  and  certainly  was  early 
improved  there,  and  he  supports  this  opinion  by 
several  plausible  arguments.!  The  Indian  engraved 


*  Strabo,  lib.  xv.  p.  1044.  B.  Dionys.  Perieges,  vers.  1016, 
t  Raspe's  Introd.  to  Tassie's  Descript.  Catal.  of  engraved 
&e,  .  xii,  fee. 


APPENDIX.  531 

gems  of  which  he  has  published  descriptions,  ap- 
pear to  be  the  workmanship  of  a  very  remote  period, 
as  the  legends  on  them  are  in  the  Sanskreet 
language.* 

But  it  is  not  alone  from  the  improved  state 
of  mechanic  arts  in  India,  that  we  conclude  its 
inhabitants  to  have  been  highly  civilized ;  a  proof 
of  this,  still  more  convincing,  may  be  deduced 
from  the  early  and  extraordinary  productions  of 
their  genius  in  the  fine  arts.  This  evidence  is  ren- 
dered more  interesting,  by  being  derived  from 
a  source  of  knowledge  which  the  laudable  curiosity 
of  our  countrymen  has  opened  to  the  people  of 
Europe  within  these  few  years.  That  all  the 
science  and  literature  possessed  by  the  Brahmins, 
were  contained  in  books  written  in  a  language  un- 
derstood by  a  few  only  of  the  most  learned  among 
them,  is  a  fact  which  has  long  been  known ;  and 
all  the  Europeans  settled  in  India  during  three 
centuries,  have  complained  that  the  Brahmins 
obstinately  refused  to  instruct  any  person  in  this 
language.  But  at  length,  by  address,  mild  treat- 
ment and  a  persuasion,  that  the  earnestness  with 
which  instruction  \vas  solicited,  proceeded  not 
^rom  any  intention  of  turning  their  religion  into 
derision,  but  from  a  desire  of  acquiring  a  perfect 
knowledge  of  their  sciences  and  literature,  the 
scruples  of  the  Brahmins  have  been  overcome. 


*  Raspe's  Introd.  to  Tassie's  Dcscript    Catal.  of  engraved 
Gems,  vol.  i.  p.  74.  vol.  ii.  plate  xiii. 


232  APPENDIX. 

Several  British  gentlemen  are  now  completely 
masters  of  the  Sanskreet  language.  The  mysteri- 
ous veil  formerly  deemed  impenetrable,  is  removed ; 
and  in  *he  course  of  five  years,  the  curiosity  of  the 
public  has  been  gratified  by  two  publications  as 
singular  as  they  were  unexpected.  The  one  is 
a  translation  by  Mr,  Wilkins,  of  an  episode  from 
the  Mahabarat,  an  epic  poem  in  high  estimation 
among  the  Hindoos,  composed  according  to  their 
account  by  Kreeshna  Dwypayen  Veias,  the  most 
eminent  of  all  their  Brahmins,  above  three  thou- 
sand years  before  the  Christian  era.  The  other 
is  Sacontala,  a  dramatic  poem,  written  about  a 
century  before  the*  birth  of  Christ,  translated  by 
Sir  W.  Jones.  I  shall  endeavour  to  give  my  read- 
ers such  a  view  of  the  subject  and  composition  of 
each  of  these,  as  may  enable  them  to  estimate, 
in  some  measure  the  degree  of  merit  which  they 
possess. 

The  Mahabarat  is  a  voluminous  poem,  con- 
sisting of  upwards  of  four  hundred  thousand  lines. 
Mr.  Wilkins  has  translated  more  than  a  third 
of  it ;  but  only  a  short  episode,  entitled  Baghvat- 
Geeta,  is  hitherto  published,  and  from  this  spe- 
cimen we  must  form  an  opinion  with  respect  to 
the  whole.  The  subject  of  the  poem  is  a  famous 
civil  war  between  two  branches  of  the  royal  house 
of  Bhaurat.  When  the  forces  on  each  side  were 
formed  in  the  field,  and  ready  to  decide  the 
contest  by  the  sword,  Arjoon,  the  favourite  and  ' 
pupil  of  the  god  Kreeshna,  who  accompanied  him 


APPENDIX.  ^a3 

in  this  hour  of  danger,  requested  of  him  to  cause 
his  chariot  to  advance  between  the  two  hostile 
armies.  He  looked  at  both  armies,  and  beheld,  on 
either  side,  none  but  grandsires,  uncles,  cousins^ 
tutors,  sons,  and  brothers,  near  relations  or  bosom, 
friends ;  and  when  he  had  gazed  for  a  while,  and 
saw  these  prepared  for  the  fight,  he  wss  seized 
with  extreme  pity  and  compunction,  and  uttered 
his  sorrow  in  the  following  words  : — "  Having 
beheld,  O  Krecshna!  my  kindred  thus  waiting 
anxious  for  the  fight,  my  members  fail  me, 
my  countenance  withereth,  the  hair  standeth 
an  end  upon  my  body,  and  all  my  frame 
trembleth  with  horror;  even  Gandeev,  my  bow 
escapeth  from  my  hand,  and  my  skin  is  parched 
and  dried  up. — When  I  have  destroyed  my  kin- 
dred shall  I  longer  look  for  happiness  ?  I  wish  not 
for  victory,  Kreeshna ;  I  want  not  dominion ;  I 
want  not  pleasure ;  for  what  is  dominion  and  the 
enjoyments  of  life,  or  even  life  itself,  when  those  for 
whom  dominion,  pleasure,  and  enjoyment  were  to 
be  coveted,  have  abandoned  life  and  fortune,  and 
stand  here  in  the  field  ready  for  the  battle. 
Tutors,  sons,  and  fathers,  grandsires,  and  grandsons, 
uncles,  nephews,  cousins,  kindred,  and  friends  ! 
Although  they  would  kill  me.  I  wish  not  to 
fight  them  ;  no  not  even  for  the  dominion  of 
the  three  regions  of  the  universe,  much  less  for 
this  little  earth.5**  In  order  to  remove  his  scruples 

*  Baghvat-Geeta,  p,  30,  31? 


£34  APPENDIX. 

Kreeshna   informs  him   what   was   the  duty  of  a 
prince  of  the  Chehteree  or  military  cast,  when  cal- 
led to  act  in  such  a   situation,  and   incites  him  to 
perform  it  by  a  variety  of  moral  and  philosophical 
arguments,  the  nature  of  which  I  shall  have  occasion 
to    consider   particularly    in   another    part   of  this 
Dissertation.     In  this  dialogue  between  Kreeshna 
and  his  pupil,  there  are  several  passages  which  give 
an  high  idea  of  the  genius  of  the  poet.    The  speech 
of  Arjoon  I  have  quoted,  in  which  he  expresses  the 
anguish  of  his  soul,  must  have  struck  every  reader 
as  beautiful  and  pathetic ;  and  I  shall  afterwards  pro- 
duce a  description  of  the  Supreme  Being,  and  of  the 
reverence    wherewith    he   should   be   worshipped, 
which   is   sublime.     But  while   these   excite   our 
admiration  and  confirm  us  in  the  belief  of  a  high 
degree  of  civilization  in   that  country  where   such 
a  work  was  produced,  we  are  surprised  at  the  defect 
of  taste  and  of  art  in  the  manner  of  introducing 
this   episode      Two   powerful   armies  are  drawn 
up  in  battle  array,  eager  for  the  fight ;  a  young  hero 
and  his  instructer  are  described   as  standing  in  a 
chariot  of  war  between  them  ;    that  surely  was  not 
the   moment   for   teaching  him   the  principles   of 
philosophy,   and    delivering   eighteen    lectures    of 
metaphysics  and  theology. 

With  regard,  however,  both  to  the  dramatic 
and  epic  poetry  of  the  Hindoos,  we  labour  under 
the  disadvantage  of  being  obliged  to  form  an  opi- 
nion from  a  single  specimen  of  each,  and  that  of 


APPENDIX.  235 

the  latter,  too,  (as  it  is  only  a  part  of  a  large  work,  j 
an  imperfet  one.  But  if,  from  such  scanty  materials, 
we  may  venture  upon  any  decision,  it  must  be, 
that  of  the  two,  the  drama  seems  to  have  been 
conducted  with  the  most  correct  taste.  This  will 
appear  from  the  observations  which  I  now  proceed 
to  make  upon  Sacontala. 

It  is  only  to  nations  considerably  advanced 
in  refinement,  that  the  drama  is  a  favourite  enter- 
tainment. The  Greeks  had  been  for  a  good  rime 
a  polished  people ;  Alaeaus  and  Sappho  had  com- 
posed their  odes,  and  Thales  and  Anaximandej 
had  opened  their  schools,  before  tragedy  made 
its  first  rude  essay  in  the  cart  of  Thespis ;  and  a 
good  time  elapsed  before  it  attained  to  any  con- 
siderable  degree  of  excellence.  From  the  drama 
of  Sacontala,  then,  we  must  form  an  advantageous 
idea  of  the  state  of  improvement  in  that  society 
to  whose  taste  it  was  suited.  In  estimating  its 
merit,  however,  we  must  not  apply  to  it  rules 
of  criticism  drawn  from  the  literature  and  taste 
of  nations  with  which  its  author  was  altogether 
unacquainted ;  we  must  not  expect  the  unities  of 
the  Greek  theatre ;  we  must  not  measure  it  by  our 
own  standard  of  propriety.  Allowance  must  be 
made  for  local  customs,  and  singular  manners, 
arising  from  a  state  of  domestic  society,  an  order 
of  civil  policy,  and  a  system  of  religious  opinions, 
very  different  from  those  established  in  Europe. 
Sacontala  is  not  a  regular  drama,  but,  like  some 
of  the  plays  early  exhibited  on  the  Spanish  and 


236  APPENDIX. 

English  theatres,  is   an  history   in   dialogue,    un- 
folding events  which  happened  in  different  places, 
and  during  a  series  of  years.     When  viewed  in  this 
light,  the  fable  is   in  general  well  arranged,  many 
of  the  incidents  are  happily  chosen,  and  the  vicissi- 
tudes in   the  situation  of  the  principal  personages 
are  sudden  and  unexpected,     The  unravelling  of 
the  piece,   however,   though  some  of  the  circum- 
stances preparatory  to  it  be  introduced  with  skill, 
is   at   last   brought  about  by   the  intervention   of 
superior  beings,    which  has  always  a  bad  effect, 
and  discovers  some  want  of  art.      But  as  Sacontala 
was  descended  of  a  celestial    nymph,   and   under 
the  protection  of  a  holy   hermit,  this  heavenly  in- 
terposition may  appear  less  marvellous,  and  is  ex- 
tremely agreeable  to  the  Oriental  taste.     In  many 
places   of  this  drama  it  is  simple  and  tender,   in 
some  pathetic ;    in   others  there   is  a  mixture   of 
comic   with  what  is  more  serious.     Of  each,  ex- 
amples might  be  given.     I  shall   select  a  few  of 
the  first,  both  because  simplicity   and  tenderness 
are  the   characteristic  beauties  of  the  piece,     and 
because   they   so   little   resemble   the   extravagant 
imagery  and  turgid  style  conspicuous  in  almost  all 
the  specimens  of  Oriental  poetry  which  have  hither- 
to been  published. 

Sacontala,  the  heroine  of  the  drama,  a  prin- 
cess of  high  birth,  had  been  educated  by  an 
holy  hermit  in  a  hallowed  grove,  and  had  passed 
the  early  part  of  her  life  in  rural  occupations  and 
pastoral  innocence.  When  she  was  about  to  quit 


APPENDIX.  237 

this  beloved  retreat,  and  repair  to  the  court  of  a 
great  monarch,  to  whom  she  had  been  married, 
Cana,  her  foster-father,  and  her  youthful  compa- 
nions, thus  bewail  their  own  loss,  and  express 
their  wishes  for  her  happiness,  in  a  strain  of  senti- 
ment and  language  perfectly  suited  to  their  pastoral 
character. 

"  Hear,  O  ye  trees,  of  this  hallowed  forest,  hear, 
and  proclaim  that  Sacontala  is  going  to  the  palace 
of  her  wedded  lord ;  she  who  drank  not,  though 
thirsty,  before  you  were  watered ;  she,  who  cropped 
not,  through  affection  for  you,  one  of  your  fresh 
leaves,  though  she  would  have  been  pleased  with 
such  an  ornament  for  her  locks ;  she,  whose  chief 
delight  was  in  the  season  when  your  branches  are 
.spangled  with  flowers!" 

Chorus  of  Wood  Nymplis. 

"  May  her  way  be  attended  with  prosperity !  May 
propitious  breezes  sprinkle,  for  her  delight,  the 
odoriferous  dust  of  rich  blossoms !  May  pools  of 
clear  water,  green  with  the  leaves  of  the  lotos,  re- 
fresh her  as  she  walks !  and  may  shady  branches  be 
her  defence  from  the  scorching  sunbeams !" 

Sacontala.,  just  as  she  was  departing  from  the 
grove,  turns  to  Cana  :  "  Suffer  me,  venerable  father, 
to  address  this  Madhavi-creeper,  whose  red  bios- 
.soms  inflame  the  grove. 

Cana.  "  My  child,  I  know  thy  affection  for  it. 

Sacont.  "  O  most  radiant  of  shining  plants,  re- 
ceive my  embraces,  and  return  them  with  thy  flex- 
ible arms!  from  this  day,  though  removed  at  a 


238  APPENDIX. 

fatal  distance,  I  shall  for  ever  be  thine  — O  beloved 
father  consider  this  creeper  as  myself!"  As  she 
advances,  she  again  addresses  Cana :  Father  •  when 
yon  female  antelope,  who  now  moves  slowly  from 
the  weight  of  the  young  ones  with  which  she  is 
pregnant,  shall  be  delivered  of  them,  send  me,  I  beg; 
a  kind  message  with  tidings  of  her  safety, — Do  not 
forget  it. 

Cana.  "  My  beloved !  I  will  not  forget  it. 

Sacontala  \_stopping~].  "Ah  !  what  is  it  that  clings 
to  the  skirts  of  my  robe  and  detains  me  ! 

Cana.  "  It  is  thy  adopted  child,  the  little  fawn, 
whose  mouth,  when  the  sharp  points  of  Cusa  grass 
had  wounded  it,  has  been  so  often  smeared  by  thee 
with  the  healing  oil  of  Ingudi ;  who  has  been  so 
often  fed  by  thee  with  a  handful  of  Synmaka  grains, 
and  now  will  not  leave  the  footsteps  of  his  pro- 
tectress. 

Sacont.  "  Why  dost  thou  weep,  tender  fawn,  for 
me  who  must  leave  our  common  dwelling-place  ? — 
As  thou  wast  reared  by  me  when  thou  hadst  lost 
thy  mother,  who  died  soon  after  thy  birth,  so  will 
my  foster-father  attend  thee,  when  we  are  separated, 
with  anxious  care. — Return,  poor  thing,  return — - 
we  must  part.  [She  burst  into  tears."] 

Cana.  "  Thy  tears,  my  child,  ill  suit  the  occa- 
sion ;  we  shall  all  meet  again  ;  be  firm ;  see  the  di- 
rect road  before  thee,  and  follow  it.  When  the  big 
tear  lurks  beneath  thy  beautiful  eye-lashes,  let 
thy  resolution  check  its  first  efforts  to  disengagr 


APPENDIX.  23.9 

itself, — In  thy  passage  over  this  earth,  where  the 
paths  are  now  high,  now  low,  and  the  true  path 
seldom  distinguished,  the  traces  of  thy  feet  must 
needs  be  unequal ;  but  virtue  will  press  thee  right 
onward."* 

From  this  specimen  of  the  Indian  drama,  every 
reader  of  good   taste,  I  should    imagine,   will  be 
satisfied,  that  it  is  only  among  a  people  of  polished 
manners  and  delicate   sentiments  that  a  composi- 
tion so  simple  and  correct  could  be  produced  or 
relished.     I  observe  one  instance  in  this  drama  of 
that   wild   extravagance    so   frequent   in    Oriental 
poetry.      The   monarch    in    replacing    a    bracelet 
which   had  dropped   from  the  arm   of  Sacontala, 
Chus  addresses  her:     "  Look,  my  darling,  this  is 
the  new  moon  which  left  the  firmament  in  honour 
of  superior    beauty,    and    having    descended    on 
your  emchanting  wrist,  hath  joined  both  its  horns 
round  it  in  the  shape  of  a  bracelet."!     But  this 
is  the  speech  of  an  enraptured  young  man  to  his 
mistress,  and  in  every  age  and  nation  exaggerated 
praise  is  expected  from  the  mouth  of  lovers.     Dra- 
matic exhibitions   seem  to  have  been  a  favourite 
amusement  of  the  Hindoos   as   well  as   of  other 
civilized    nations.      "   The    tragedies,    comedies? 
farces,  and  musical  pieces  of  the   Indian  theatre, 
would  fill  as  many  volumes  as  that  of  any  nation 
in  ancient  or  modern  Europe,      They  are  all  in 

*  Act  IV.  p.  47,  &c;  t  Act,  III.  p.  36. 


240  APPENDIX. 

verse  where  the  dialogue  is  elevated,  and  in  prose 
where  it  is  familiar ;  the  men  of  rank  and  learning 
are  represented  speaking  pure  Sanskreet,  and  the 
women  Pracrit,  which  is  little  more  than  the  lan- 
guage of  the  Brahmins,  melted  down  by  a  delicate 
articulation  to  the  softness  of  Italian ;  while  the  low 
persons  of  the  drama  speak  the  vulgar  dialects  of 
the  several  provinces  which  they  are  supposed  to 
inhabit."* 

V.  The  attainments  of  the  Indians  in  science, 
furnish  an  additional  proof  of  their  early  civiliza- 
tion. By  every  person  who  has  visited  India  in 
ancient  or  modern  times,  its  inhabitants  either  in 
transactions  of  private  business,  or  in  the  con- 
duct of  political  affairs,  have  been  deemed  not  in- 
ferior to  the  people  of  any  nation  in  sagacity  or  in 
acuteness  of  understanding.  From  the  application 
of  such  talents  to  the  cultivation  of  science,  an 
extraordinary  degree  of  proficiency  might  have 
been  expected.  The  Indians  were,  accordingly, 
early  celebrated  on  that  account,  and  some  of  the 
most  eminent  of  the  Greek  philosophers,  travelled 
Into  India,  that,  by  conversing  with  the  sages 
of  that  country,  they  might  acquire  some  por- 
tion of  the  knowledge  for  which  they  were  dis- 
tinguished, t  The  accounts,  however,  which  we 


*  Preface  to  Sacont.  by  Sir  William  Jones,  p.  ix.     See 
NOTE  LXVI. 
f  Brukeri  Hist.  Philosoph.  vol.i.  p,  190, 


APPENDIX.  541 

receive  from  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  of  the  scU 
ences  which  attracted  the  attention  of  the  Indian 
philosophers,  or  of  the  discoveries  which  they  had 
made  in  them,  are  very  imperfect.  To  the  research- 
es of  a  few  intelligent  persons,  who  have  visited 
India  during  the  course  of  the  three  last  centuries, 
we  are  indebted  for  more  ample  and  authentic  in- 
formation. But  from  the  reluctance  with  which 
the  Brahmins  communicate  their  sciences  to  stran- 
gers, and  the  inability  of  Europeans  to  acquire 
much  knowledge  of  them,  while,  like  the  mysteries 
their  religion,  they  were  concealed  from  vulgar 
eyes  in  an  unknown  tongue,  this  information  was 
acquired  slowly  and  with  great  difficulty.  The  same 
observation,  however,  which  I  made  concerning  our 
knowledge  of  the  state  of  the  fine  arts  among 
the  people  of  India,  is  applicable  to  that  of 
their  progress  in  science,  and  the  present  age  is 
the  first  furnished  with  sufficient  evidence  upon 
which  to  found  a  decisive  judgment  with  respect  to 
either. 

Science,  when  viewed  as  disjoined  from  re<» 
ligion,  the  consideration  of  which  I  reserve  for 
another  head,  is  employed  in  contemplating  either 
the  operations  of  the  understanding,  the  exercise 
of  our  moral  powers,  or  the  nature  and  qualities 
of  external  objects.  The  first  is  denominated 
logic  ;  the  second  ethics ;  and  the  third  physics,  or 
the  knowledge  of  nature.  With  respect  to  the 
early  progress  in  cultivating  each  of  these  science* 


242  APPENDIX. 

in  India,  we  are   in  possession  of  facts  which  merit 
attention. 

But,  prior  to  the   consideration  of  them,  it   is 
proper    to   examine    the    ideas    of  the  Brahmins 
with  respect  to  mind  itself,  for  if  these  were   not 
just,   all   their  theories  concerning   its   operations 
must  have  been  erroneous  and  fanciful.     The  dis- 
tinction between   matter  and  spirit  appears  to  have 
been  early  known  by  the  philosophers  of  India, 
arid  to  the   latter   they   ascribed  many  powers   of 
which   they  deemed  the   former  to  be  incapable ; 
and  when  we   recollect  how   inadequate   our  con- 
ceptions are  of  every  object  that  does  not  fall  under 
the    cognisance   of    the    senses,    we    may    affirm 
(if  allowance  be  made  for  a  peculiar  notion  of  the 
Hindoos  which  shall  be  afterwards  explained)  that 
no  description  of  the  human  soul  is  more  suited 
to  the  dignity  of  its  nature  than  that  given  by  the 
author    of   the    Mahabarat.     "  Some,"    says    he, 
i£  regard  the  soul  as  a  wonder,    others  hear  of  it 
with  astonishment,  but   no  one  knoweth  at.     The 
weapon     divideth     it   not;    the    fire     burneth   it 
not;    the     water    corrupteth    it     not;    the     wind 
drieth  it  not  away ;  for  it  is  indivisible,  inconsuma- 
ble, incorruptible ;   it  is  eternal,  universal,  perma- 
nent, immoveable ;   it  is  invisible,    inconceivable, 
and  unalterable.f "     After   this  view  of  the  senti- 
ments of  the  Brahmins  concerning  mind  itself,  we 
may  proceed  to  consider  their  ideas  with  respect  to 

*  Baghvat-Geeta,  p.  37- 


APPENDIX.  243 

each  of  the  sciences,  in  that  tripartite  arrangement 
which  I  mentioned. 

1st,  Logic  and  metaphysics.  On  no  subject 
has  the  human  understanding  been  more  exercised 
than  in  analysing  its  own  operations.  The  various 
powers  of  the  mind  have  been  examined  and 
defined.  The  origin  and  progress  of  our  ideas 
have  been  traced ;  and  proper  rules  have  been  pre- 
scribed, of  proceeding  from  the  observation  of  facts 
to  the  establishment  of  principles,  or  from  the  know- 
ledge of  principles  to  form  arrangements  of  sci- 
ence. The  philosophers  of  ancient  Greece  were 
highly  celebrated  for  their  proficiency  in  these  ab- 
struse speculations ;  and  in  their  discussions  and 
arrangements,  discovered  such  depth  of  thought  and 
acuteness  of  discernment,  that  their  systems  of 
logic,  particularly  that  of  the  Peripatetic  school, 
have  been  deemed  most  distinguished  efforts  of  hu- 
man reason. 

But  since  we  became  acquainted,  in  some  degree 
with  the  literature  and  science  of  the  Hindoos,  we 
find  that  as  soon  as  men  arrive  at  that  stage  in  social 
life,  when  they  can  turn  their  attention  to  specula- 
tive inquiries,  the  human  mind  will,  in  every  region 
of  the  earth,  display  nearly  tne  same  powers,  and 
proceed  in  its  investigations  and  discoveries  by 
nearly  similar  steps.  From  Abul  Fazel's  compen- 
dium of  the  philosophy*  of  the  Hindoos,  the  know- 
ledge of  which  he  acquired,  as  he  informs  us,  by 

*  Ayecn  Akbery,  vol.  iii.  p.  95,  &c. 


;*44  APPENDIX. 

associating  intimately  with  the  most  learned  men  of 
the  nation ;  from  the  specimen  of  their  logical  dis- 
cussions contained  in  that  portion  of  the  Shastra 
published  by  colonel  Dow,*  and  from  many  pas- 
sages in  the  Baghvat-Geeta,  it  appears  that  the 
same  speculations  which  occupied  the  philosophers 
of  Greece  had  engaged  the  attention  of  the  Indian 
Brahmins;  and  the  theories  of  the  former,  either 
concerning  the  qualities  of  external  objects,  or  the 
nature  of  our  own  ideas,  were  not  more  ingenious 
than  those  of  the  latter.  To  define  with  accuracy, 
to  distinguish  with  acuteness,  and  to  reason  with 
subtlety,  are  characteristics  of  both ;  and  in  both, 
the  same  excess  of  refinement,  in  attempting  to  ana- 
lyse those  operations  of  mind  which  the  faculties  of 
man  were  not  formed  to  comprehend,  led  sometimes 
to  the  most  false  and  dangerous  conclusions.  That 
sceptical  philosophy,  which  denies  the  existence  of 
the  material  world,  and  asserts  nothing  to  be  real 
but  our  own  ideas,  seems  to  have  been  known  in 
India  as  well  as  in  Europe  ;f  and  the  sages  of  the 
East,  as  they  were  indebted  to  philosophy  for  the 
knowledge  of  many  important  truths,  were  not  more 
exempt  than  those  of  the  West  from  its  delusions 
And  errors.  a 

2d,  Ethics.  This  science,  which  has  for  its  ob- 
ject, to  ascertain  what  distinguishes  virtue  from 
vice,  to  investigate  what  motives  should  prompt; 
men  to  act,  and  to  prescribe  rules  for  the  conduct 

*  Dissertation,  p.  xxxix,  &c. 

f  Dissertation,  p.  Ivii.  Ayeen  Akbery,  vol.  iii.  p.  1 28 


APPENDIX.  245 

of  life,  as  it  is  of  all  others  the  most  interesting, 
seems  to  have  deeply  engaged  the  attention  of  the 
Brahmins.  Their  sentiments  with  respect  to  these 
points  were  various,  and,  like  the  philosophers  of 
Greece,  the  Brahmins  were  divided  into  sects,  dis- 
tinguished by  maxims  and  tenets  often  diametri- 
cally opposite.  That  sects  with  whose  opinions  we 
are,  fortunately,  best  acquainted,  had  established  a 
system  of  morals,  founded  on  principles  the  most 
generous  and  dignified  which  unassisted  reason  is 
capable  of  discovering.  Man,  they  taught,  was 
formed  not  for  speculation  or  indolence,  but  for 
action.  •  He  is  born,  not  for  himself  alone,  but  for 
his  fellow  men.  The  happiness  of  the  society  of 
which  he  is  a  member,  the  good  of  mankind,  are 
his  ultimate  and  highest  objects.  In  choosing  what 
to  prefer  or  to  reject,  the  justness  and  propriety  of 
his  own  choice  are  the  only  considerations  to  which 
he  should  attend.  The  events  which  may  follow 
his  actions  are  not  in  his  own  power,  and  whether 
they  be  prosperous  or  adverse,  as  long  as  he  is  satis- 
fied with  the  purity  of  the  motives  which  induced 
him  to  act,  he  can  enjoy  that  approbation  of  his  own 
mind  which  constitutes  genuine  happiness,  inde- 
pendent of  the  power  of  fortune  or  the  opinions  of 
other  men.  "  Man  (says  the  author  of  the  Mahabar 
rat,  enjoyeth  not  freedom  from  action.  Every  man 
is  involuntarily  urged  to  act  by  those  principles 
which  are  inherent  in  his  nature.  He  who  re- 
straineth  his  active  faculties,  and  sitteth  down  with 
his  mind  attentive  to  the  objects  of  his  senses,  may 


246  APPENDIX. 

be  called  one  of  an  astrayed  soul.  The  man  is 
praised,  who  having  subdued  all  his  passions,  per- 
formeth  with  his  active  faculties  all  the  functions 
of  life  unconcerned  about  the  event.*  Let  the 
motive  be  in  the  deed,  and  not  in  the  event.  Be 
not  one  whose  motive  for  actions  in  the  hope  of  re- 
ward. Let  not  thy  life  be  spent  in  inaction.  De- 
pend upon  application,  perform  thy  duty,  abandon 
all  thought  of  the  conscience,  and  make  the  event 
equal,  whether  it  terminate  in  good  or  in  evil ; 
for  such  an  equality  is  called  Yog  [i.  e.  attention 
to  what  is  spiritual].  Seek  an  asylum  then  in 
wisdom  alone ;  for  the  miserable  and  unhappy 
are  so  on  account  of  the  event  of  things.  Men 
who  are  indued  with  true  wisdom  are  unmindful 
of  good  or  evil  in  this  world.  Study  then  to  ob- 
tain this  application  of  thy  understanding,  for 
such  application  in  business  is  a  precious  art. 
Wise  men  who  have  abandoned  all  thought  of  the 
fruit  which  is  produced  from  their  actions,  are 
freed  from  the  chains  of  birth,  and  go  to  the  regions 
of  eternal  happiness, f" 

From  these  and  other  passages  which  I  might 
have  quoted,  we  learn  that  the  distinguishing  doc- 
trines of  the  Stoical  school  were  taught  in  India  many 
ages  before  the  birth  of  Zeno,  and  inculcated  with  a 
persuasive  earnestness  nearly  resembling  that  of 
Epictetus  ;  and  it  is  not  without  astonishment  that 
we  find  the  tenets  of  this  manly  active  philosophy, 

*  £aghvat-Geeta,  p.  44.  t  Baghvat-Geeta,  p.  40, 


APPENDIX.  247 

which  seem  to  be  formed  only  for  men  of  the  most 
vigorous  spirit,  prescribed  as  the  rule  of  conduct  to 
a  race  of  people  more  eminent  (as  is  generally 
supposed)  for  the  gentleness  of  their  disposition  than 
for  the  elevation  of  their  minds. 

3d,  Physics.  In  all   the  sciences  which  contri- 
bute towards  extending  our  knowledge  of  nature, 
in  mathematics,  mechanics,  and  astronomy,  arith- 
metic is  of  elementary  use.      In  whatever  country 
then  we  find  that  such  attention  has  been  paid  to 
the  improvement  of  arithmetic  as  to  render  its  ope- 
rations most  easy  and  correct,  we  may  presume  that 
the     sciences  depending   upon  it    have  attained  a 
superior  degree  of  perfection.     Such  improvement 
of  this  science  we  find  in  India.     While,  among  the 
Greeks  and  Romans,  the  only   method   used   for 
the  notation  of  numbers  was  by  the  letters  of  the 
alphabet,   which  necessarily   rendered  arithmetical 
calculation  extremely  tedious  and  operose,  the  In- 
dians had,  from  time  immemorial,    employed  for 
the  same  purpose  the  ten  ciphers,  or  figures,  now 
universally  known,  and  by  means  of  them  performed 
every  operation  in  arithmetic  with  the  greatest  faci- 
lity  and  expedition.     By  the   happy  invention  of 
giving  a  different  value  to  each  figure  according  to 
its  change  of  place,  no  more  than  ten  figures  are 
needed  in  calculations  the  most  complex,  and  of  any 
given  extent ;  and  arithmetic  is  the  most  perfect  of  all 
the  sciences.  The  Arabians,  not  long  after  their  set- 
tlement in  Spain,  introduced  this  mode  of  notation 
into  Europe,  and  were  candid  enough  to  acknow- 


248  APPENDIX. 

ledge  that  they  had  derived  the  knowledge  of  it 
from,  he  Indians.  Though  the  advantages  of  this 
mode  of  notation  are  obvious  and  great,  yet  so 
slowly  do  mankind  adopt  new  inventions,  that  the 
use  of  it  was  for  some  time  confined  to  science  ; 
by  degrees,  however,  men  of  business  relinquished 
the  former  cumbersome  method  of  computation  by 
letters,  and  the  Indian  arithmetic  came  into  general 
use  throughout  Europe.*  It  is  now  so  familiar 
and  simple,  that  the  ingenuity  of  the  people,  to 
xvhom  we  are  indebted  for  the  invention,  is  less 
observed  and  less  celebrated  than  it  merits. 

The  astronomy  of  the  Indians  is  a  proof  still 
more  conspicuous  of  their  extraordinary  progress  in 
science.  The  attention  and  success  with  which  they 
studied  the  motions  of  the  heavenly  bodies  were 
so  little  known  to  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  that  it  is 
hardly  mentioned  by  them  but  in  the  most  cursory 
manner,  f  But  as  soon  as  the  Mahomedans  estab.- 
lished  an  intercourse  with  the  natives  of  India,  they 
observed  and  celebrated  the  superiority  of  their 
astronomical  knowledge.  Of  the  Europeans  who 
visited  India  after  the  communication  with  it  by  the 
cape  of  Good  Hope  was  discovered,  M  Bernier, 
an  inquisitive  and  philosophical  traveller,  was  one 
of  the  first  who  learned  that  the  Indians  had  long 
applied  to  the  study  of  astronomy,  and  had  made 
considerable  progress  in  that  science.  J  His  informa- 

*  Montucla  Hist,  des  Mathemat.  torn  i.  p.  360.  &c. 
|  Strabo,  lib.  xv.  p.  1047.  A.  Dion.  Perieg.  v.  1 17". 
$  Voyages,  torn.  ii.  p.  14.5,  Sec. 


APPENDIX.  S%9 

tion,  however,  seems  to  have  been  very  general  and 
imperfect.  We  are  indebted  for  the  first  scientific 
proof  of  the  great  proficiency  of  the  Indians  in  astro- 
nomical knowledge,  to  M.  de  la  Loubere,,  who,  on 
his  return  from  his  embassy  to  Siam,  A.  D.  1687, 
brought  with  him  an  extract  from  a  Siamese  manu- 
script, which  contained  tables  and  rules  for  calcula- 
ting the  places  of  the  sun  and  moon.  The  manner 
in  which  these  tables  were  constructed  rendered  the 
principles  on  which  they  were  founded  extremely 
obscure,  and  it  required  a  commentator  as  conver- 
sant in  astronomical  calculation  as  the  celebrated 
Cassini,  to  explain  the  meaning  of  this  curious  frag- 
ment. The  epoch  of  the  Siamese  tables  corresponds 
to  the  21st  of  March;  A.  D.  638.  Another  set  o^ 
tables  was  transmitted  from  Chrisnabouram,  in  the 
Carnatic,  the  epoch  of  which  answers  to  the  10th  of 
March,  A.  D.  1491.  A  third  set  of  tables  came 
from  Narsapour,  and  the  epoch  of  them  goes  no 
farther  back  than  A.  D.  1569.  The  fourth  and  most 
curious  set  of  tables  was  publised  by  M  le  Gentilj 
to  whom  they  were  communicated  by  a  learned 
Brahmin  of  Tirvalore,  a  small  town  on  the  Coro- 
mandel  coast,  about  twelve  miles  west  of  Negapatanu 
The  epoch  of  tkese  tables  is  of  high  antiquity,  and 
coincides  with  the  beginning  of  the  celebrated  era 
of  the  Clayougliam  or  Collee  Jogue3  which  com- 
menced, according  to  the  Indian  account,  three 
thousand  one  hundred  and  two  years  before  the  birth 
of  Christ.* 

*  See  NOTE  LXVII, 
2  j> 


250  APPENDIX, 

These  four  sets  of  tables  have  been  examined 
and  compared  by  M.  Bailly,  who  with  singular  feli- 
city of  genius  has  conjoined  an  uncommon  degree 
of  eloquence  with  the  patient  researches  of  an  astro- 
nomer, and  the  profound  investigations  of  a  geome- 
trician.    His  calculations   have  been   verified,  and 
his  reasonings  have  been  illustrated  and  extended 
by  Mr.  Playfair,  in  a  very  masterly  Dissertation, 
published  in  the  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Society 
of  Edinburgh.* 

Instead  of  attempting  to  follow  them  in  reasonings 
and  calculations,  which,  from  their  nature,  are  often, 
abstruse  and  intricate,  I  shall  satisfy  myself  with 
giving  such  a  general  view  of  them  as  is  suited  to  a 
popular  work.  This,  I  hope,  may  convey  a  proper 
idea  of  what  has  been  published  concerning  the  astro- 
nomy of  India,  a  subject  too  curious  and  important 
to  be  omitted  in  any  account  of  the  state  of  science 
in  that  country ;  and,  without  interposing  any 
judgment  of  my  own,  I  shall  leave  each  of  my  read- 
ers to  form  IKS  own  opinion. 

It  may  be  considered  as  the  general  result  of  all 
the  inquiries,  reasonings,  and  calculations,  with  re- 
spect  to  Indian  astronomy,  which  have  hitherto  been 
made  public,  "  That  the  motion  of  the  heavenly 
bodies,  and  more  particularly  their  situation  at 
the  commencement  of  the  different  epochs  to 
which  the  four  sets  of  tables  refer,  are  ascertained 

*  Vol.  ii.  p.  iss. 


APPENDIX,  251 

with  great  accuracy  ;  and  that  many  of  the 
elements  of  their  calculations,  especially  for  very 
remote  ages,  are  verified  by  an  astonishing  coin- 
cidence with  the  tables  of  the  modern  astronomy 
of  Europe,  when  improved  by  the  latest  and  most 
nice  deductions  from  the  theory  of  gravitation." 
These  conclusions  are  rendered  peculiarly  interest- 
ing, by  the  evidence  which  they  afford  of  an  ad- 
vancement in  science  unexampled  in  the  history  of 
rude  nations.  The  Indian  Brahmins,  who  annu- 
ally circulate  a  kind  of  almanac,  containing  astron- 
mical  predictions  of  some  of  the  more  remarkable 
phenomena  in  the  heavens,  such  as  the  new  and  full 
moons,  the  eclipses  of  the  sun  and  moon,  are  in  pos- 
session of  certain  methods  of  calculation,  which, 
upon  examination,  are  found  to  involve  in  them 
a  very  extensive  system  of  astronomical  knowledge. 
M.  le  Gentil,  a  French  astronomer,  had  an  opportu- 
nity, while  in  India,  of  observing  two  eclipses  of  the 
moon  which  had  been  calculated  by  a  Brahmin,  and 
he  found  the  error  in  either  to  be  very  inconsider- 
able. 

The  accuracy  of  these  results  is  less  surprising 
than  the  justness  and  scientific  nature  of  the  prin- 
ciples on  which  the  tables,  by  which  they  calculate, 
are  constructed.  For  the  method  of  predicting 
eclipses  which  is  followed  by  the  Brahmins,  is  of  a 
kind  altogether  different  from  any  that  has  been 
found  in  the  possession  of  rude  nations  in  the  infancy 
of  astronomy.  In  Chaldaea,  and  even  in  Greece, 


3a»  APPENDIX. 

In  the  early  ages,  the  method  of  calculating  eclipseb 
was  founded  on  the  observation  of  a  certain  period 
or  cycle,  after  which  the  eclipses  of  the  sun  and 
moon  return  nearly  in  the  same  order  ;  but  there 
was  no  attempt  to  analyse  the  different  circum- 
stances on  which  the  eclipse  depends  or  to  de- 
duce its  phenomena  from  a  precise  knowledge  of 
the  motions  of  the  sun  and  moon.  This  last 
was  reserved  for  a  more  advanced  period,  when 
geometry,  as  well  as  arithmetic,  were  called  in  to 
the  assistance  of  astronomy,  and  if  it  was  attempted 
at  all,  seems  not  to  have  been  attempted  with  suc- 
cess before  the  age  of  Hipparchus.  It  is  a  method 
of  this  superior  kind,  founded  on  principles  and 
on  an  analysis  of  the  motions  of  the  sun  and  moon, 
which  guides  the  calculations  of  the  Brahmins, 
and  they  never  employ  any  of  the  '"grosser  estima- 
tions, which  were  the  pride  of  the  first  astronomers 
in  Egypt  and  Chaldasa. 

The  Brahmins  of  the  present  times  are  guided  in 
their  calculations  by  these  principles,  though  they 
do  not  now  understand  them  ;  they  know  only 
the  use  of  the  tables  which  are  in  their  possession, 
but  are  unacquainted  with  the  method  of  their  con- 
struction. The  Brahmin  who  visited  M.  le  Gentil 
at  Pondicherry,  and  instructed  him  in  die  use  of 
the  Indian  tables,  had  no  knowledge  of  the  princi- 
ples of  his  art,  and  discovered  no  curiosity  concern- 
ing the  nature  of  M.  le  Gentil's  observations,  or 
about  the  instruments  which  he  employed,  He 
cjually  ignorant  with  respect  to  the  authors  of 


APPENDIX,  253 

these  tables  :  and  whatever  is  to  be  learnt  concern- 
ing! tne  ^me  or  places  °f  their  construction  must 
be  deduced  from  the  tables  themselves.  One  set  of 
these  tables  (as  was  formerly  observed)  profess  to 
be  as  old  as  the  beginning  of  the  Calyougham,  or 
to  go  back  to  the  year  3102  before  the  Christian 
era  ;  but  as  nothing  (it  may  be  supposed)  is  easier 
than  for  an  astronomer  to  give  to  his  tables  what 
date  he  pleases,  and  by  calculating  backwards,  to 
establish  an  epoch  of  any  assigned  antiquity,  the 
pretensions  of  the  Indian  astronomy  to  so  remote  an 
origin  are  not  to  be  admitted  without  examination. 
That  examination  has  accordingly  been  institu- 
ted by  M.  Bailly,  and  the  result  of  his  inquiries  is 
asserted  to  be,  that  the  astronomy  of  India  is  found-? 
ed  on  observations  which  cannot  be  of  a  much  later 
date  than  the  period  above  mentioned.  For  the 
Indian  tables  represent  the  state  of  the  heavens  at 
that  period  with  astonishing  exactness ;  and  there 
is  between  them  and  the  calculations  of  our  mo- 
dern astronomy  such  a  conformity  with  respect  to 
those  ages,  as  could  result  from  nothing,  but  from 
the  authors  of  the  former  having  accurately  copied 
from  nature,  and  having  delineated  truly  the  face 
of  the  heavens,  in  the  age  wherein  they  lived.  In 
order  to  give  some  idea  of  the  high  degree  of  accu- 
racy in  the  Indian  tables,  I  shall  select  a  few  instan- 
ces of  it,  out  of  many  that  might  be  produced. 
The  place  of  the  sun  for  the  astronomical  epoch  at 
the  beginning  of  the  Calyougham,  as  stated  in  the 
Cables  of  Tirvalore,  is  only  forty- seven  minuter 


254  APPENDIX. 

greater  than  by  the  tables  of  M.  de  la  Caille,  when 
corrected  by  the  calculations  of  M.  de  la  Grange. 
The  place  of  the  moon,  in  the  the  same  tables,  for 
the    same    epoch,    is  only    thirity-seven   minutes 
different  from  the  tables  of  Mayer.     The  tables  of 
Ptolemy,  for  that  epoch,  are  erroneous  no  less  than 
ten  degrees  with  respect  to  the  place  of  the  sun,  and 
eleven  degrees  with  respect  to  that  of  the  moon. 
The  acceleration  of  the  moon's  motion   reckoning 
from  the  beginning  of  the  Calyougham  to  the  pre- 
sent time,  agrees,  in  the  Indian  tables,  with  those 
of  Mayer  to  a  single  minute.     The  inequality  of 
the  sun's  motion,  and  the  obliquity  of  the  ecliptic, 
which  were  both  greater  in  former  ages  than  they 
are  now,  as  represented  in  the  tables  of  Tirvalore, 
are  almost  of  the  precise  quantity  that  the  theory  of 
gravitation  assigns  to   them  three   thousand  years 
before  the  Christian  era.      It  is   accordingly   for 
those  very  remote  ages  ("about  5000  years  distant 
from  the  present)  that  their  astronomy  is  most  ac- 
c'urate,  and  the  nearer  we  come  down  to  our  own 
time,  the  conformity  of  its  results  with  ours  dimi- 
nishes.    It  seems  reasonable  to  suppose,  that  the 
time  when  its  rules  are  most  accurate,  is  the  time 
when   the   observations  were  made  on  which  these  • 
rules  are  founded. 

In  support  of  this  conclusion,  M.  Bailly  main- 
tains  that  none  of  all  the  astronomical  systems  of 
Greece  or  Persia,  or  of  Tartary,  from  some  of  which 
it  might  be  suspected  that  the  Indian  tables  were 
copied,  can  be  made  to  agree  with  them,  especially 


APPENDIX.  255 

when  we  calculate  for  very  remote  ages.  The  su- 
perior perfection  of  the  Indian  tables  becomes  always 
more  conspicuous  as  we  go  farther  back  into  anti- 
quity. This  shows,  likewise,  how  difficult  it  is  to 
construct  any  astronomical  tables  which  will  agree 
with  the  state  of  the  heavens  for  a  period  so  remote 
from  the  time  when  tke  tables  were  constructed, 
as  four  or  five  thousand  years.  It  is  only  from  as- 
tronomy in  its  most  advanced  state,  such  as  it  has 
attained  in  modern  Europe,  that  such  accuracy  is  to 
be  expected. 

When  an  estimate  is  endeavoured  to  be  made  of 
the  geometrical  skill  necessary  for  the  construc- 
tion of  the  Indian  tables  and  rules,  it  is  found  to  be 
very  considerable  :  and,  beside  the  knowledge  o* 
elementary  geometry,  it  must  have  required  plane 
and  spherical  trigonometry,  or  something  equiva- 
lent to  them,  together  with  certain  methods  of  (ap- 
proximating to  the  values  of  geometrical  magnitudes, 
which  seem  to  rise  very  far  above  the  elements  of 
any  of  those  sciences.  Some  of  these  last  mark 
also  very  clearly  (although  this  has  not  been  ob- 
served by  M.  Bailly)  that  the  places  to  which  these 
tables  are  adapted,  must  be  situated  between  the 
tropics,  because  they  are  altogether  inapplicable  at 
a  greater  distance  from  the  equator. 

From  this  long  induction,  the  conclusion  which 
seems  obviously  to  result  is,  that  the  Indian  astro- 
nomy is  founded  upon  observations  which  were 
made  at  a  very  early  period  ;  and  when  we  consider 


236  APPENDIX. 

the  exact  agreement  of  the  places  which  they  assign 
to  the  sun  and  moon,  and  other  heavenly  bodies,  at 
that  epoch,  with  those  deduced  from  the  tables  of 
De  la  Caille  and  Mayer,  it  strongly  confirms  the  truth 
of  the  position  which  I  have  been  endeavouring  to 
establish  concerning  the  early  and  high  state  of  ci« 
vilization  in  India. 

Before  I  quit  this  subject,  there  is  one  cir- 
cumstance which  merits  particular  attention.  All 
the  knowledge  which  we  have  hitherto  acquired 
of  the  principles  and  conclusions  of  Indian  astro- 
nomy is  derived  from  the  southern  part  of  the 
Carnatic,  and  the  tables  are  adapted  to  places 
situated  between  the  meridian  of  cape  Comorin 
and  that  which  passes  through  the  eastern  part 
of  Ceylon.*  The  Brahmins  in  the  Carnatic  ac- 
knowledge that  their  science  of  astronomy  was  de- 
rived from  the  North,  and  that  their  method  of 
calculation  is  denominated  Fakiam,  or  New,  to 
distinguish  it  from  the  Siddantdfn,  or  ancient  me- 
thod established  at  Benares,  which  they  allow  to  be 
much  more  perfect ;  and  we  leani  from  Abu! 
Fazel,  that  all  the  astronomers  of  Indostan  rely 
entirely  upon  the  precepts  contained  in  a  book 
called  Soorej  Sudhant,  composed  in  a  very  remote 
period,  f  It  is  manifestly  from  this  book  that 
the  method  to  which  the  Brahmins  of  the  south 
gave  the  name  of  Siddentam  is  taken.  Benares 
has  been  from  time  immemorial  the  Athens  of 

*  Bailly,  Di'$.  Prelim*  p,  xvii-        f  Ayeeif  Akbery,  iii.  p.  8. 


APPENDIX  257 

India,  the  residence  of  the  most  learned  Brahmins, 
and  the  seat  both  of  science  and  literature.     There, 
it  is   highly   probable,    whatever   remains   of  the 
ancient   astronomical    knowledge   and    discoveries 
of  the   Brahmins   is   still   preserved.*    In  an  en- 
lightened age   and  nation,  and  during  a  reign  dis- 
tinguished by  a   succession  of  the   most  splended 
and  successful  undertakings  to  extend  the  know- 
ledge of  nature,  it  is  an  object  worthy  of  public  at- 
tention, to  take  measures  for  obtaining  possession 
of  all  that  time  has  spared  of  the  philosophy  and 
inventions    of  the   most    early  and    most    highly 
civilized  people   of  the  East.     It  is  with  peculiar 
advantages  Great  Britain  may  engage  in  this  laud- 
able undertaking.     Benares   is   subject  to   its   do- 
minion;   the    confidence    of    the    Brahmins     has 
been   so  far  gained  as  to  render  them  communi- 
cative ;    some  of  our  countrymen   are   acquainted 
with  that  sacred  language  in  which  the  mysteries 
both  of  religion  and  of  science  are  recorded  ;  move- 
ment and  activity  has  been  given  to  a  spirit  of  in- 
quiry throughout  all  the  British  establishments  in 
India ;   persons  who  visited  that  country  with  other 
views,  though  engaged  in  occupations  of  a  very 
different  kind,  are  now  carrying  on  scientific  and 
literary  researches  with  ardour  and  success.     No- 
thing  seems  now  to  be  wanting  but  that  those  in- 


*  M.  Bernier,  in  the  year  1668,  saw  a  large  hall  in  Be- 
nares filled  with  the  works  of  the  Indian  philosophers,  phy- 
sicians, and  poets,  Voy.  ii.  p.  148. 


358  APPENDIX, 

trusted  with  the  administration  of  the  British  em- 
pire in  India,  should  enable  some  person  capable, 
by  his  talents  and  liberality  of  sentiment,  of  inves- 
tigating and  explaining  the  more  abstruse  parts 
of  Indian  philosophy,  to  devote  his  whole  time  to 
that  important  object.  Thus  Great  Britain  may 
have  the  glory  of  exploring  fully  that  extensive 
field  of  unknown  science,  which  the  academicians 
of  France  had  the  merit  of  first  opening  to  the  peo- 
ple of  Europe.* 

VI.  The  last  evidence  which  I  shall  mention  of 
the  early  and  high  civilization  of  the  ancient  In- 
dians, is  deduced  from  the  consideration  of  their 
religious  tenets  and  practices.     The  institutions  of 
religion,  publicly  established  in  all  the  extensive 
countries  stretching  from  the  banks  of  the  Indus  to 
cape  Comorin,  present  to  view  an   aspect   nearly 
similar.     They  form  a  regular  and  complete  system 
of  superstition,   strengthened  and  upheld  by  every 
thing  which  can  excite  the  reverence  and  secure  the 
attachment  of  the  people.      The   temples    conse- 
crated to  their  deities  are  magnificent,  and  adorned 
not  only  with  rich  offerings,  but  with  the  most  ex- 
quisite works  in  painting  and  sculpture,  which  the 
artists,  highest  in  estimation   among   them,  were 
capable  of  executing.     The  rites  and  ceremonies 
of  their  worship  are  pompous  and  splendid,  and 
the  performance  of  them  not  only  mingles  in  all 
the  more  momentous  transactions  of  common  life, 
but  constitutes   an   essential  part  of  them.     The 

*  See  NOTE  LXVIII. 


APPENDIX.  259 

Brahmins  who,  as  ministers  of  religion,  preside 
in  all  its  functions,  are  elevated  above  every  other 
order  of  men,  by  an  origin  deemed  not  only  more 
noble,  but  acknowledged  to  be  sacred.  They 
have  established  among  themselves  a  regular 
hierarchy  and  gradation  of  ranks,  which,  by  se- 
curing subordination  in  their  own  order,  adds 
weight  to  their  authority,  and  gives  them  a  more 
absolute  dominion  over  the  minds  of  the  people. 
This  dominion  they  support  by  the  command  of 
the  immense  revenues  with  which  the  liberality  of 
princes,  and  the  zeal  of  pilgrims  and  devotees,  have 
enriched  their  pagodas.* 

It  is  far  from  my  intention  to  enter  into  any 
minute  detail  with  respect  to  this  vast  and  compli- 
plicated  system  of  superstition.  An  attempt  to 
enumerate  the  multitude  of  deities  which  are  the 
objects  of  adoration  in  India ;  to  describe  the  splen- 
dour of  worship  in  their  pagodas,  and  the  immense 
variety  of  their  rites  and  ceremonies ;  to  recount 
the  various  attributes  and  functions  which  the  craft 
of  priests,  or  the  credulity  of  the  people,  have 
ascribed  to  their  divinities ;  especially  if  I  were  to 
accompany  all  this  with  the  reviexv  of  the  numerous 
and  often  fanciful  speculations  and  theories  of  learned 
men  on  this  subject,  would  require  a  work  of. 
great  magnitude.  I  shall,  therefore,  on  .this,  as 
on  some  of  the  former  heads,  confine  myself  to 


Roger.  Porte  Ouverte,  p.  39.  209,  &c, 


2*0  APPENDIX. 

the  precise  point  which  I  have  kept  uniformly  in 
view,  and  by  considering  the  state  of  religion  in 
India,  I  shall  endeavour  not  only  to  throw  addi- 
tional light  on  the  state  of  civilization  in  that  coun- 
try, but  I  flatter  myself  that,  at  the  same  time,  I  shall 
be  able  to  give  what  may  be  considered  as  a  sketch 
and  outline  of  the  history  and  progress  of  super- 
stition and  false  religion  in  every  region  of  the 
earth. 

I.  We  may  observe,  that,  in  every  country,  the 
received  mythology,  or  system  of  superstitious  be- 
lief, with  all  the  rites  and  ceremonies  which  it  pre- 
scribes, is  formed  in  the  infancy  of  society,  in  rude 
and  barbarous  times  True  religion  is  as  different 
from  superstition  in  its  origin,  as  in  its  nature. 
The  former  is  the  offspring  of  reason  cherished  by 
science,  and  attains  to  its  highest  perfection  in  ages 
of  light  and  improvement.  Ignorance  and  fear 
give  birth  to  the  latter,  and  it  is  always  in  the  dark- 
est periods  that  it  acquires  the  greatest  vigour. 
That  numerous  part  of  the  human  species  whose 
lot  is  labour,  whose  principal  and  almost  sole  occu- 
pation is  to  secure  subsistence,  has  neither  leisure 
nor  capacity  for  entering  into  that  path  of  intri- 
cate and  refined  speculation,  which  conducts  to  the 
knowledge  of  the  principles  of  rational  religion. 
When  the  intellectual  powers  are  just  beginning 
to  unfold,  and  their  first  feeble  exertions  are  di- 
rected towards  a  few  objects  of  primary  necessity 
and  use ;  when  the  faculties  of  the  mind  are  so 
limited  as  not  to  have  formed  general  and  abstract 


APPENDIX.  261 

ideas ;  when  language  is  so  barren  as  to  be  desti- 
tute of  names  to  distinguish  any  thing  not  per- 
ceivable by  some  of  the  senses  ;  it  is  preposterous 
to  expect  that  men  should  be  capable  of  tracing 
the  relation  between  effects  and  their  causes  ;  or  to 
suppose  that  they  should  rise  from  the  contempla- 
tion of  the  former  to  the  discovery  of  the  latter, 
and  form  just  conceptions  of  one  Supreme  Being, 
as  the  creator  and  governor  of  the  universe.  The 
idea  of  the  creation  is  so  familiar,  wherever  the  mind 
is  enlarged  by  science,  and  illuminated  by  revela- 
tion, that  we  seldom  reflect  how  profound  and  ab- 
struse the  idea  is,  or  consider  what  progress  man 
must  have  made  in  observation  and  research,  before 
he  could  arrive  at  any  distinct  knowledge  of  this 
elementary  principle  in  religion.  But  even  in  its 
rude  state,  the  human  mind,  formed  for  religion, 
opens  to  the  reception  of  ideas,  which  are  destined, 
when  corrected  and  confined,  to  be  the  great  source 
of  consolation  amidst  the  calamities  of  life.  These 
apprehensions,  however,  are  originally  indistinct 
and  perplexed,  and  seem  to  be  suggested  rather 
by  the  dread  of  impending  evils,  than  to  flow 
from  gratitude  for  blessings  received.  While 
nature  holds  on  her  course  with  uniform  and  un- 
disturbed regularity,  men  enjoy  the  benefits  re- 
sulting from  it,  without  much  inquiry  concerning 
its  cause.  But  every  deviation  from  this  regular 
course  rouses  and  astonishes  them.  When  they 
behold  events  to  which  they  are  not  accustomed, 
they  search  for  the  causes  of  them  with  eager  curi- 


262  APPENDIX. 

osity.  Their  understanding  is  often  unable  to  dis- 
cover these,  but  imagination,  a  more  forward  and 
ardent  faculty  of  the  mind,  decides  without  hesita- 
tion. It  ascribes  the  extraordinary  occurrences  in 
nature  to  the  influence  of  invisible  beings,  and  sup- 
poses the  thunder,  the  hurricane,  and  the  earthquake, 
to  be  the  immediate  effect  of  their  agency  Alarm- 
ed by  these  natural  evils,  and  exposed,  at  the  same 
time,  to  many  dangers  and  disasters,  which  are  un- 
avoidable in  the  early  and  uncivilized  state  of  soci- 
ety, men  have  recourse  for  protection  to  power  su- 
perior to  what  is  human,  and  the  first  rites  or  prac- 
tices which  bear  any  resemblance  to  acts  of  religion, 
have  it  for  their  object  to  avert  evils  which  they 
suffer  or  dread.* 

II.  As  superstition  and  false  religion  take  their 
rise,  in  every  country,  from  nearly  the  same  senti- 
ments and  apprehensions,  the  invisible  beings,  who 
are  the  first  objects  of  veneration,  have  everywhere 
a  near  resemblance.  To  conceive  an  idea  of  one 
superintending  mind,  capable  of  arranging  and  di- 
recting all  the  various  operations  of  nature,  seems 
to  be  an  attainment  far  beyond  the  powers  of  man 
in  the  more  early  stages  of  his  progress.  His 
theories,  more  suited  to  the  limited  sphere  of  his 


*  In  the  second  volume  of  the  History  of  America,  p.  183, 
of  fifth  edition,  I  gave  nearly  a  similar  account  of  the  origin 
of  false  religion.  Instead  of  labouring  to  convey  the  same 
ideas  in  different  language,  I  have  inserted  here  some  para- 
graphs in  the  same  words  I  then  used. 


APPENDIX.  263 

own  observation,  are  not  so  refined.  He  supposes 
that  there  is  a  distinct  cause  of  every  remarkable 
effect,  and  ascribes  to  a  separate  power  every  event 
which  attracts  his  attention,  or  excites  his  terror. 
He  fancies  that  it  is  the  province  of  one  deity  to 
point  the  lightning,  and,  with  an  awful  sound,  to 
hurl  the  irresistible  thunderbolt  at  the  head  of 
the  guilty  ;  that  another  rides  in  the  whirlwind,  and, 
at  his  pleasures  raises  or  stills  the  tempest ;  that  a 
third  rules  over  the  ocean ;  that  a  fourth  is  the  god 
of  battles  ;  that  while  malevolent  powers  scatter  the 
seeds  of  animosity  and  discord,  and  kindle  in  the 
breast  those  angry  passions  which  give  rise  to  war, 
and  terminate  in  destruction,  others  of  a  nature  more 
benign,  by  inspiring  the  hearts  of  men  with  kind- 
ness and  love,  strengthen  the  bonds  of  social  union, 
augment  the  happiness,  and,  increase  the  number  of 
the  human  race. 

Without  descending  farther  into  detail,  or  at- 
tempting  to  enumerate  that  infinite  multitude  of 
deities  to  which  the  fancy  or  the  fears  of  men  have 
allotted  the  direction  of  the  several  departments  in 
nature,  we  may  recognise  a  striking  uniformity 
of  features  in  the  systems  of  superstition  established 
throughout  every  part  of  the  earth.  The  less  men 
have  advanced  beyond  the  state  of  savage  life,  and 
the  more  slender  their  acquaintance  with  the  opera- 
tions of  nature,  the  fewer  were  their  deities  in  num- 
ber, and  the  more  compendious  was  their  theologi- 
cal creed;  but .  as  their  mind  gradually  opened, 


264  APPENDIX, 

and  their  knowledge  continued  to  extend,  the  ob- 
jects of  their  veneration  multiplied,  and  the  articles 
of  their  faith  became  more  numerous.  This  took 
place  remarkably  among  the  Greeks  in  Europe, 
and  the  Indians  in  Asia,  the  two  people  in  those 
great  divisions  of  the  earth,  who  were  most  early 
civilized,  and  to  whom,  for  that  reason,  I  shall  con- 
fine all  my  observations.  They  believed,  that  over 
every  movement  in  the  natural  world,  and  over  every 
function  in  civil  or  domestic  life,  even  the  most 
common  and  trivial,  a  particular  deity  presided. 
The  manner  in  which  they  arranged  the  stations  of 
these  superintending  powers,  and  the  offices  which 
they  allotted  to  each,  were  in  many  respects  the 
same.  What  is  supposed  to  be  performed  by  the 
power  of  Jupiter,  of  Neptune,  of  /Eolus,  of  Mars,  of 
Venus,  according  to  the  mythology  of  the  West, 
is  ascribed  in  the  East  to  the  agency  of  Agnee,  the 
god  of  fire  ;  Varoon,  the  god  of  oceans ;  Vayoo,  the 
god  of  wind ;  *  Cama,  the  god  of  love  ;  and  a  variety 
of  other  divinities. 

The  ignorance  and  credulity  of  men  having 
thus  peopled  the  heavens  with  imaginary  beings, 
they  ascribed  to  them  such  qualities  and  actions 
as  they  deemed  suitable  to  their  character  and 
functions.  It  is  one  of  the  benefits  derived  from 
true  religion,  that  by  setting  before  men  a  standard 
of  perfect  excellence,  which  they  should  have 

*  Baghvat-Geeta,  p.  94» 


APPENDIX.  265 

always  in  their  eye,  and  endeavour  to  resemble,  it 
may  be  said  to  bring  down  virtue  from  heaven 
to  earth,  and  to  form  the  human  mind  after  a 
divine  model.  In  fabricating  systems  of  false  re- 
ligion, the  procedure  is  directly  the  reverse.  Men 
ascribe  to  the  beings  whom  they  have  deified,  such 
actions  as  they  themselves  admire  and  celebrate. 
The  qualities  of  the  gods  who  are  the  objects  of 
adoration,  are  copied  from  those  of  the  worship- 
pers who  bow  down  before  them ;  and  thus  many 
of  the  imperfections  peculiar  to  men,  have  found 
admittance  into  heaven.  By  knowing  the  adven- 
tures and  attributes  of  any  false  deity,  we  can 
pronouace,  with  some  degree  of  certainty,  what 
must  have  been  the  state  of  society  and  manners 
when  he  was  elevated  to  that  dignity.  The  my- 
thology of  Greece  plainly  indicates  the  character 
of  the  a-ge  in  which  it  was  formed.  It  must  have 
been  in  times  of  the  greatest  licentiousness,  anar- 
chy, and  violence,  that  divinities  of  the  highest  rank 
could  be  supposed  capable  of  perpetrating  actions, 
or  of  being  influenced  by  passions,  which,  in  more 
enlightened  periods,  would  be  deemed  a  disgrace 
to  human  nature ;  it  must  have  been  when  the 
earth  was  still  infested  with  destructive  monsters, 
and  mankind,  under  forms  of  government  too 
feeble  to  afford  them  protection,  were  exposed  to 
the  depradations  of  lawless  robbers,  or  the  cruelty 
of  savage  oppressors,  that  the  well-known  labours 
of  Hercules,  by  which  he  was  raised  from  earth 
to  heaven,  could  have  been  necessary,  or  would 
have  been  deemed  so  highly  meritorious.  The 


266  APPENDIX, 

same  observation  is  applicable  to  the  ancient  my- 
thology of  India.  Many  of  the  adventures  and 
exploits  of  the  Indian  deities  are  suited  to  the 
rudest  ag-es  of  turbulence  and  rapine.  It  was  to 
check  disorder,  to  redress  wrongs,  and  to  clear  the 
earth  of  powerful  oppressors,  that  Vishnou,  a  divi- 
nity of  the  highest  order,  is  said  to  have  become 
successively  incarnate,  and  to  have  appeared  on 
earth  in  various  forms.* 

III.  The  character  and  functions  of  those  deities 
which  superstition  created  to  itself  as  objects   of 
its  veneration,  having   everywhere  a  near  resem- 
blance,  the   rites   of  their   worship   where  every- 
where extremely  similar.     Accordingly,  as  deities 
were  distinguished,  either  by  ferocity  of  character 
or  licentiousness  of  conduct,  it  is   obvious  what 
services  must  have  been  deemed  most  acceptable 
to  them.     In   order  to   conciliate    the  favour,    or 
to  appease  the  wrath,  of  the  former,  fasts,  mortifi- 
cations,   and  penances,   all    rigid,   and    many    of 
them  excruciating    to   an    extreme    degree,  were 
the  means   employed.     Their  altars   were  always 
bathed   in   blood,    the  most    costly   victims   were 
offered,  whole   hecatombs   were  slaughtered,  even 
human    sacrifices   were  not  unknown,    and   were 
keld  to  be  the  most  powerful  expiations.     In  order 
to   gain  the   good  will  of  the  deities  of  the  latter 
description,  recourse  was  had  to   institutions  of  a 
very  different  kind,  to  splendid  ceremonies,  gay 

*  Voyage  de  Sonnerat,  torn.  i.  p,  158.  &c. 


APPENDIX  2# 

festivals,  heightened  by  all  the  pleasures  of  poetry, 
music,  and  dancing,  but  often  terminating  in 
scenes  of  indulgence  too  indecent  to  be  described. 
Of  both  these,  instances  occur  in  the  rites  of  Greek 
and  Roman  worship,  which  I  need  not  mention  to 
my  learned  readers.*  In  the  East  the  ceremonial 
of  superstition  is  nearly  the  same.  The  manners 
of  the  Indians,  though  distinguished,  from  the 
time  when  they  became  known  to  the  people 
of  the  West,  for  mildness,  seem,  in  a  more  remote 
period,  to  have  been  in  a  greater  degree  similar  to 
those  of  other  nations.  Several  of  their  deities 
were  fierce  and  awful  in  their  nature,  and  were 
represented  in  their  temples  under  the  most  terrific 
forms.  If  we  did  not  know  the  dominion  of  super- 
stition over  the  human  mind,  we  should  hardly  be- 
lieve, that  a  ritual  of  worship  suited  to  the  character 
of  such  deities  could  have  been  established  among  a 
gentle  people.  Every  act  of  religion,  performed  in 
honour  of  some  of  their  gods,  seems  to  have  been, 
prescribed  by  fear.  Mortifications  and  penances  so 
rigorous,  so  painful,  and  so  long  continued,  that 
we  read  the  accounts  of  them  with  astonishment  and 
horror,  were  multiplied.  Repugnant  as  it  is  to  the 
feelings  of  an  Hindoo  to  shed  the  blood  of  any 
creature  that  has  life,  many  different  animals,  even 
the  most  useful,  the  horse  and  the  cow,  were  offered 
up  as  victims  upon  the  altars  of  some  of  their 

*  Strabo,  lib.  viii.  p.  58 1 .  A,    Lib.  xii.  p.  837:  C, 


26S  APPENDIX, 

gods;*  and  what  is   still  more  strange,   the  pago- 
das of  the  East  were  polluted  with   human  sacri- 
fices as  well   as  the  temples   of  the  West.f     But 
religious  institutions,  and  ceremonies  of  a  less  severe 
kind,  were  more  adapted  to  the  genius  of  a  people, 
formed,  by  the   extreme  sensibility  both  of  their 
mental   and    corporeal   frame,   to    an  immoderate 
love  of  pleasure.     In  no  part  of  the   earth  was  a 
connexion   between   the    gratification    of    sensual 
desire  and  the  rites  of  public  religion,  displayed 
with    morc:  avowed  indecency  than  in  India.     In 
every  pagoda  there  was  a  band  of  women  set  apart 
for  the   service  of  the  idol   honoured   there,   and 
devoted  from  their  early  years  to  a  life  of  pleasure ; 
for    which    the  Brahmins    prepared    them   by  an 
education  which  added   so  many   elegant  accom- 
plishments to  their  natural  charms,  that  what  they 
gained  by  their  profligacy,   often  brought  no  in- 
considerable  accession  to  the  revenue  of  the  temple. 
In  every   function   performed  in  the   pagodas,   as 
well  as  in  every  public   procession,  it  is  the  office 
of  these   women   to   dance   before  the    idol,   and 
to  sing  hymns  in  his  praise  ;  and  it  is  difficult  to 
say,  whether  they  trespass  most  against  decency 
by   the  gestures   they  exhibit,    or  by  the   verses 
which  they  recite.     The  walls  of  the   pagoda  are 


*  Ayeen  Akbery,  vol.  iii.  p.  241.  Roger,  Porte  Ouverte, 
p.  251. 

t  Heeto-pades,  p.  185 — 322.  Asiat.  Researches,  vol.  i.  po 
265.  Voyage  de  Sonnerat,  vol.  i.  p.  207.  Roger,  p.  25  L 


APPENDIX.  269 

covered  with  paintings,  in  a  style  no  less  indelicate  ;* 
and  in  the  innermost  recess  of  the  temple,  for  it 
would  be  profane  to  call  it  the  sanctuary,  is  placed 
the  JLingam,  an  emblem  of  productive  power  too 
gross  to  be  explained,  f 

IV.  How   absurd    soever  the   articles   of  faith 
may  be  which  superstition  has  adopted,   or  how 
unhallowed   the  rites  which   it  precribes,  the  for- 
mer are  received  in   every  age   and   country  with 
unhesitating  assent,  by  the  great  body  of  the  peo- 
ple, and  the  latter  observed  with  scrupulous  ex- 
actness.    In  our  reasonings   concerning   religious 
opinions  and  practice  a  which   differ  widely   from 
our  own,  we  are  extremely  apt  to   err.     Having 
been  instructed  ourselves  in  the  principles  of  a  re- 
ligion,  worthy    in    every   respect   of   that    divine 
wisdom  by    which    they  were    dictated,    we    fre- 
quently express  wonder  at  the  credulity  of  nations 
in  embracing  systems  of  belief  which  appear  to  us 
so  directly  repugnant  to  right  reason,  and  some- 
times suspect  that  tenets  so  wild  and  extravagant 
do   not   really   gain   credit   with  them.     But  ex- 
perience may   satisfy   us,   that   neither .  our   won- 
der nor  suspicions  are  well  founded.     No  article 
of  the  public   religion   was  called  in  question  by 


*  Voyage  de  Gentil.  vol.  i.  p.  244.  260.  Preface  to  Code 
of  Gentoo  Laws,  p.  Ivii. 

t  Roger,  Porte  Ouverte,  p  157.  Voyage  de  Sonnerat, 
vol.  i.  p.  41.  175.  Sketches,  vol.  i.  p.  203.  Hamilton's 
Trav.  vol.  i.  p.  379, 


2/0  APPENDIX. 

those  people  of  ancient  Europe,  with  whose  history 
we  are  best  acquainted,  and  no  practice  which 
it  enjoined  appeared  improper  to  them.  On  the 
other  hand,  every  opinion  that  tended  to  diminish 
the  reverence  of  men  for  the  gods  of  their  coun- 
try, or  to  alienate  them  from  their  worship,  ex- 
cited among  the  Greeks  and  Romans  that  in- 
dignant zeal  which  is  natural  to  every  people  at- 
tached to  their  religion,  by  a  firm  persuasion  of 
its  truth.  The  attachment  of  the  Indians,  both 
in  ancient  and  modern  times,  to  the  tenets 
and  rites  of  their  ancestors,  has  been,  if  possible, 
still  greater.  In  no  country  of  which  we  have  any 
account,  were  precautions  taken  with  so  much  so- 
licitude  to  place  the  great  body  of  the  people  be- 
yond the  reach  of  any  temptation  to  doubt  or  dis- 
belief. They  not  only  were  prevented,  (as  I  have 
already  observed  the  great  bulk  of  mankind  must 
always  be  in  every  country,)  from  entering  upon 
any  speculative  inquiry,  by  the  various  occupations 
of  active  and  laborious  life,  but  any  attempt  to 
extend  the  sphere  of  their  knowledge  was  expressly 
prohibited*  If  one  of  the  Sooder  cast,  by  far  the 
most  numerous  of  the  four  into  which  the  whole 
nation  was  divided,  presumed  to  read  any  portion 
of  the  sacred  books,  in  which  all  the  science  known 
in  India  is  contained,  he  was  severely  punished ; 
if  he  ventured  to  get  it  by  heart,  he  was  put  to 
death.*  To  aspire  after  any  higher  degree  of  know- 
ledge than  the  Brahmins~have  been  pleased  to  teach. 

*  Cede  of  GenjLoo  Laws,  ch,  xxi,  §  r> 


APPENDIX.  271 

would  be  deemed  not   only   presumption   but  im- 
pitey.     Even   the   higher   casts  depended  entirely 
for  instruction  on   the   Brahmins,   and   could   ac- 
quire no  portion  of  science  but  what  they  deign- 
ed to  communicate.     By  means  of  this,  a  devout 
reverence  was  universally  maintained  for  those  in- 
stitutions which  were  considered  as  sacred ;  and 
though  the  faith  of  the  Hindoos  has  been  often  tried 
by  severe  persecutions,  excited  by  the  bigotry  of 
their  Mahomedan  conquerors,  no  people  ever  ad- 
hered with  greater  fidelity  to  the  tenets  arid  rites  of 
their  ancestors.*1 

V.    We  may  observe,  that  when  science   and 
philosophy  are  diffused  through  any  country,  die 
system  of  superstition  is  subjected  to  a  scrutiny 
from  which  it  was  formerly  exempt,  and  opinions 
spread  which  imperceptibly  diminish  its  influence 
over  the  minds  of  men.     A  free  and  full  exami- 
nation is  always   favourable   to  truth,  but  fatal  to 
error.     What   is  received  with   implicit   faith    in 
ages  of  darkness,  will  excite  contempt  or  indigna- 
tion in  an  enlightened  period.     The  history  of  re- 
ligion in  Greece  and  Italy,  the  only  countries  of 
Europe  which,  in  ancient  times,  were  distinguish- 
ed for  their  attainments  in  science,  confirms  the 
truth  of  this  observation.     As  soon  as  science  made 
such  progress  in  Greece  as  rendered  men  capable 
of  discerning  the  wisdom,  the   foresight,  and  the 
goodness  displayed   in   creating,    preserving,  and 

*  Ofme's  Fragment,  p.  102.    Sonnerat,.  vol.  i.  p.  194. 


APPENDIX. 

governing  the  world,  they  must  have  perceived, 
that  the  characters  of  the  divinities  which  were  pro- 
posed as  the  objects  of  adoration  in  their  temples, 
could  not  entitle  them  to  be  considered  as  the  presi- 
ding powers  in  nature.  A  poet  might  address  Ju- 
piter as  the  father  of  gods  and  men,  who  governed 
both  by  eternal  laws  ;  but  to  a  philosopher,  the  son 
of  Saturn,  the  story  of  whose  life  is  a  series  of  vio- 
lent and  licentious  deeds,  which  would  render  any 
man  odious  or  despicable,  must  have  appeared  alto- 
gether unworthy  of  that  station.  The  nature  of  the 
religious  service  celebrated  in  their  temples  must 
have  been  no  less  offensive  to  an  enlightened  mind, 
than  the  character  of  the  deities  in  honour  of  whom 
it  was  performed.  Instead  of  institutions,  tending 
to  reclaim  men  from  vice,  to  form  or  to  strengthen 
habits  of  virtue,  or  to  elevate  the  mind  to  a  sense 
of  its  proper  dignity,  superstition  either  occupied  its 
votaries  in  frivolous  unmeaning  ceremonies,  or  pre- 
scribed rites,  which  operated,  with  fatal  influence, 
in  inflaming  the  passions  and  corrupting  the  heart. 

It  is  with  timidity,  however,  and  caution,  that 
men  venture  to  attack  the  established  religion  of  their 
country,  or  to  impugn  opinions  which  have  been 
long  held  sacred.  At  first  some  philosophers  en- 
deavoured, by  allegorical  interpretations  and  re- 
fined comments,  to  explain  the  popular  mythology,  as 
if  it  had  been  a  description  of  the  powers  of  nature, 
and  of  the  various  events  and  revolutions  which 
take  place  in  the  system  of  the  material  world,  and 
endeavoured  by  this  expedient,  to  palliate  many  of 


APPENDIX.  27S 

\ 

its  absurdities.  By  degrees,  bolder  theories  con- 
cerning religion  were  admitted  into  the  schools  of 
science.  Philosophers  of  enlarged  views,  sensible  of 
the  impiety  of  the  popular  superstition,  formed 
ideas  concerning  the  perfections  of  one  Supreme 
Being,  the  Creator  and  Ruler  of  the  universe,  as  just 
and  rational  as  have  ever  been  attained  by  the  unas* 
sisted  powers  of  the  human  mind. 

If  from  Europe  we  now  turn  to  Asia,  we  shall 
find,  that  the  observation  which  I  have  made  upon 
the  history  of  false  religion  holds  equally  true  there, 
In  India  as  well  as  in  Greece,  it  was  by  cultivating 
science  that  men  were  first  led  to  examine  and  to 
entertain  doubts  with  respect  to  the  established  sys- 
tems of  superstition ;  and  when  we  consider  the 
great  difference  between  the  ecclesiastical  constitu- 
tion (if  I  may  use  that  expression)  of  the  two  coun- 
tries, we  are  apt  to  imagine  that  the  established  sys- 
tem lay  more  open  to  examination  in  the  latter  than 
in  the  former.  In  Greece  there  was  not  any  dis- 
tinct race  or  order  of  men  set  apart  for  performing 
the  functions  of  religion,  or  to  serve  as  hereditary 
and  interested  guardians  of  its  tenets  and  insti- 
tutions. But  in  India  the  Brahmins  were  born 
the  ministers  of  religion,  and  they  had  an  exclusive 
right  of  presiding  in  all  the  numerous  rites  of  wor- 
ship which  superstition  prescribed  as  necessary  to 
avert  the  wrath  of  Heaven,  or  to  render  it  propiti- 
ous. These  distinctions  and  privileges  secured  to 
them  a  wonderful  ascendant  over  their  country- 
men ;  and  every  consideration  that  can  influence 

2o 


SJT4  APPENDIX. 

the  human  mind,  the  honour,  the  interest,  the 
power  of  their  order,  called  upon  them  to  support 
the  tenets,  and  to  maintain  the  institutions  and  rites, 
with  which  the  preservation  of  this  ascendant  was  so 
Intimately  connected. 

But  as  the  most  eminent  persons  of  the  cast  de* 
voted  their  lives  to  the  cultivation  of  science,  the 
progress  which  they  made  in  all  the  branches  of  it 
(of  which  I  have  given  some  account)  was  great, 
and  enabled  them  to  form  such  a  just  idea  of  the 
system  of  nature,  and  of  the  power,  wisdom,  and 
goodness  displayed  in  the  formation  and  government 
of  it,  as  elevated  their  minds  above  the  popular  su- 
perstition, and  led  them  to  acknowledge  and  re* 
verence  one  Supreme  Being,  "the  Creator  of  all 
things  (to  use  their  own  expressions),  and  from 
whom  all  things  proceed."* 

This  is  the  idea  which  Abul  Fazel,  who  examined 
the  opinions  of  the  Brahmins  with  the  greatest  at- 
tention and  candour,  gives  of  their  theology. 
"  They  all,"  says  he,  "  believe  in  the  unity  of  the 
Godhead,  and  although  they  hold  images  in  high 
veneration,  it  is  only  because  they  represent  celes- 
tial beings,  and  prevent  the  thoughts  of  those  who 
worship  them  from  wandering,  f"  The  sent^. 
ments  of  the  most  intelligent  Europeans  who  have 
visited  in  India,  coincide  perfectly  with  his,  in  rer 
spect  to.  this  point.  The  accounts  which  Mr.  Ber- 


Baghvat-Geeta,  p.  84.      Ayeen  Akbery,  vol.  Hi.  p.  3, 


APPENDIX.  275 

nier  received  from  the  Pundits  of  Benares,  both  of 
their  external  worship,  and  of  one  Sovereign  Lord 
being  the  sole  object  of  their  devotion,  is  precisely 
the  same  with  that  given  by  Abul  Fazel.  *  Mr.  Wil- 
kins,  better  qualified  perhaps  than  any  European 
ever  was  to  judge  with  respect  to  this  subject, 
represents  the  learned  Brahmins  of  the  present  times 
as  theists,  believers  in  the  unity  of  God.f  Of 
the  same  opinion  is  M.  Sonnerat,  who  resided  in 
India  seven  years,  in  order  to  inquire  into  the 
manners,  sciences,  and  religion  of  the  Hindoos.J 
The  Pundits  who  translated  the  Code  of  Gentoo 
laws,  declare,  "  that  it  was  the  Supreme  Being, 
who,  by  his  power,  formed  all  creatures  of  the 
animal,  vegetable  and  material  world,  from  the  four 
elements  of  fire,  water,  air,  and  earth,  to  be  an 
ornament  to  the  magazine  of  creation ;  and  whose 
comprehensive  benevolence  selected  man,  the  cen- 
tre of  knowledge,  to  have  dominion  and  authority 
over  the  rest ;  and  having  bestowed  upon  this 
favourite  object  judgment  and  understanding^  gave 
him  supremacy  over  the  corners  of  the  world.  "§ 

Nor  are  these  to  be  regarded  as  refined  senti- 
ments of  later  times.  The  Brahmins  being  con- 
sidered by  the  Mahomedan  conquerors  of  India  as 
the  guardians  of  the  national  religion,  have  been 


*  Voyage,  torn.  ii.  p.  159. 

t  Preface  to  Baghvat-Geeta,  p.  24. 

|  Voyage,  torn.  i.  p.  193.        §  Prelim,  Discours.p.  IxxiiL 


276  APPENDIX. 

so  studiously  depressed  by  their  fanatical  zeal,  that 
the  modern  members  of  that  order  are  as  far  infe- 
rior to  their  ancestors  in  science  as  in  power.  It  is 
from  the  writings  of  their  ancient  Pundits  that 
they  derive  the  most  liberal  sentiments  which  they 
entertain  at  present,  and  the  wisdom  for  which  they 
are  now  celebrated  has  been  transmitted  to  them 
from  ages  very  remote. 

That  this  assertion  is  well  founded  we  are  ena- 
bled to  pronounce  with  certainty,  as  the  most  pro- 
found mysteries  of  Hindoo  theology,  concealed  with 
the  greatest  care  from  the  body  of  the  people,  have 
been  unveiled  by  the  translations  from  the  Sans- 
kreet  language  lately  published.  The  principal  de- 
sign of  the  Baghvat-Geeta,  an  episode  in  the  Maha- 
barat,  a  poem  of  the  highest  antiquity,  and  of  the 
greatest  authority  in  India,  seems  to  have 'been  to 
establish  the  doctrine  of  the  unity  of  the  Godhead, 
and  from  a  just  view  of  the  divine  nature  to  deduce 
an  idea  of  what  worship  will  be  most  acceptable  to 
a  perfect  being.  In  it,  amidst  much  obscure  meta- 
physical discussion,  some  ornaments  of  fancy  un- 
suited  to  our  taste,  and  some  thoughts  elevated  ta 
a  tract  of  sublimity  into  which,  from  our  habits  of 
reasoning  and  judging,  we  will  find  it  difficult  to 
follow  them,*  we  find  descriptions  of  the  Supreme 
Being  entitled  to  equal  praise  with  those  of  the 
Greek  philosophers  which  I  have  celebrated*  Of 


*  Mr,  Hasting's  Letter,  prefixed  to  the   Baghvat-Geeta, 

7. 


APPENDIX.  27? 

these  I  shall  now  produce  one  to  which  I  formerly 
alluded,  and  refer  my  readers  for  others  to  the 
work  itself:  "  O  mighty  Being,"  says  Arjoon, 
who  art  the  prime  Creator,  eternal  God  of  Gods, 
the  World's  Mansion  !  Thou  art  the  incorruptible 
Being,  distinct  from  all  things  transient.  Thou, 
art  before  all  Gods,  the  ancient  Pooroosh  [L  e, 
vital  soul],  and  the  Supreme  Supporter  of  the 
universe.  Thou  knowest  all  things,  and  art 
worthy  to  be  known  ;  thou  art  the  Supreme  Man- 
sion, and  by  thee,  O  infinite  Form,  the  universe 
Was  spread  abroad !  reverence  be  unto  thee 
before  and  behind;  reverence  be  unto  thee  on 
all  sides ;  O  thou  who  art  in  all !  Infinite  is 
thy  power  and  thy  glory. — Thou  art  the  father 
of  all  things,  animate  and  inanimate.  Thou  art 
the  wise  instructor  of  the  whole,  worthy  to  be 
adored.  There  is  none  like  unto  thee ;  where, 
then,  in  the  three  worlds,  is  there  one  above  thee  ? 
Wherefore  I  bow  down ;  and,  with  my  body  pros- 
trate  upon  the  ground,  crave  thy  mercy,  Lord! 
worthy  to  be  adored ;  for  thou  shouldst  bear  with 
me,  even  as  a  father  with  his  son,  a  friend  with  his 
friend,  a  lover  with  his  beloved."*  A  descrip- 
tion of  the  Supreme  Being  is  given  in  one  of 
of  the  sacred  books  of  the  Hindoos,  from  which  it 
is  evident  what  were  the  general  sentiments  of  the 
learned  Brahmins  concerning  the  divine  nature  and 
perfections :  "  As  God  is  immaterial,  he  is  above 
all  conception ;  as  he  is  invisible,  he  can  have  no 

*  Baghvat-Geeta,  p.  94,  95, 


2/8  APPENDIX. 

form ;  but  from  what  we  behold  of  his  works 
we  may  conclude,  that  he  is  eternal,  omnipotent, 
knowing  all  things,  and  present  everywhere.*'* 

To  men  capable  of  forming  such  ideas  of  the 
deity,  the  public  service  in  the  pagodas  must  have 
appeared  to  be  an  idolatrous  worship  of  images,  by 
a  supersittious  multiplication  of  frivolous  or  immoral 
rites ;  and  they  must  have  seen  that  it  was  only  by 
sanctity  of  heart,  and  purity  of  manners,  men  could 
hope  to  gain  the  approbation  of  a  being  perfect  in 
goodness.  This  truth  Veias  labours  to  inculcate 
in  the  Mahabarat,  but  with  the  prudent  reserve  and 
artful  precautions  natural  to  a  Brahmin,  studious 
neither  to  offend  his  countrymen,  nor  to  diminish  the 
influence  of  his  own  order.  His  ideas  concerning 
the  mode  of  worshipping  the  deity,  are  explained 
in  many  striking  passages  of  the  poem ;  but  unwill- 
ing to  multiply  quotations,  I  satisfy  myself  with  re- 
ferring to  them.f 

When  we  recollect  how  slowly  the  mind  of  man 
opens  to  abstract  ideas,  and  how  difficult  (according 
to  an  observation  in  the  Mahabarat)  an  invisible 
path  is  to  corporeal  beings,  it  is  evident  that  the 
Hindoos  must  have  attained  an  high  degree  of  im- 
provement before  their  sentiments  rose  so  far  supe- 
rior to  the  popular  superstition  of  their  country. 
The  different  states  of  Greece  had  subsisted  long, 


• .  *  Dow's  Dissert,  p.  xl. 
t  Baghvat-Geeta,  p.  55,  67.  76.  95.  119, 


APPENDIX,  279 

and  had  made  considerable  progress  in  refinement, 
before  the  errors  of  false  religion  began  to  be  de- 
tected. It  was  not  until  the  age  of  Socrates,  and 
in  the  schools  of  philosophy  established  by  his  disci- 
ples, that  principles  adverse  to  the  tenets  of  the  po- 
pular superstition  were  much  propagated. 

A  longer  period  of  time  elapsed  before  the 
Romans,  a  nation  of  warriors  and  statesmen,  were 
enlightened  by  science,  or  ventured  upon  any  free 
disquisition  concerning  the  objects  or  the  rites  of 
worship,  authorized  by  their  ancestors.  But  in 
India  the  happy  effects  of  progress  in  science  were 
much  more  early  conspicuous.  Without  adopting 
the  wild  computations  of  Indian  chronology,  ac- 
cording to  which,  the  Mahabarat  was  composed 
above  four  thousand  years  ago,  we  must  allow,  that 
it  is  a  work  of  very  great  antiquity,  and  the  author  of 
it  discovers  an  acquaintance  with  the  principles  of 
theology,  of  morals,  and  of  metaphysics,  more  just 
and  rational,  than  seems  to  have  been  attained,  at 
that  period,  by  any  nation  whose  history  is  known. 

But  so  unable  are  the  limited  powers  of 
the  human  mind  to  form  an  adequate  idea  of 
the  perfections  and  operations  of  the  Supreme 
Being,  that  in  all  the  theories  concerning  them, 
of  the  most  eminent  philosophers  in  the  most 
enlightened  nations,  we  find  a  lamentable  mixture 
of  ignorance  and  error.  From  these  the  Brahmins 
were  not  more  exempt  than  the  sages  of  other 
countries.  As  they  held  that  the  system  of  nature 


2SO  APPENDIX. 

was  not  only  originally  arranged  by  the  power 
and  wisdom  of  God,  but  that  every  event  which 
happened  was  brought  about  by  his  immediate  in- 
terposition, and  as  they  could  not  comprehend  how 
a  being  could  act  in  any  place  unless  where  it  was 
present,  they  supposed  the  Deity  to  be  'a  vivifying 
principle  diffused  through  the  whole  creation,  an 
universal  soul  that  animated  each  part  of  it.* 
Every  intelligent  nature,  particularly  the  souls  of 
men,  they  conceived  to  be  portions  separated  from 
this  great  spirit,!  to  which,  after  fulfilling  their 
destiny  on  earth,  and  attaining  a  proper  degree 
of  purity,  they  would  be  again  reunited.  In  order 
to  efface  the  stains  with  which  a  soul,  during  its  re- 
sidence on  earth,  has  been  defiled,  by  the  indul- 
gence of  sensual  and  corrupt  appetites,  they  taught 
that  it  must  pass,  in  a  long  succession  of  transmigra. 
tions,  through  the  bodies  of  different  animals,  until, 
by  what  it  suffers  and  what  it  learns  in  the  various 
forms  of  its  existence,  it  shall  be  so  thoroughly  re- 
fined from  all  pollution  as  to  be  rendered  meet  for 
being  absorbed  into  the  divine  essence,  and  returns 
like  a  drop  into  that  unbounded  ocean  from  which 
it  originally  issued.}  These  doctrines  of  the  Brah- 
mins, concerning  the  deity,  as  the  soul  which  per- 
vades all  nature,  giving  activity  and  vigour  to  every 
part  of  it  as  well  as  the  final  reunion  of  all  intel- 
ligent creatures  to  their  primaeval  source,  coincide 

*  Baghvat-Geeta,  p.  65.  78.  85.     Bernier,  torn.  ii.  p.   163. 
t  Dow's  Dissert,  p.  xliii. 

%  Voy.  de  Sonnerat,  vol.  i.  p.  192.  200,    Baghvat-GeeU 
p.  39.  115.    Dow's  Dissert,  p.  xliii. 


APPENDIX.  5281 

perfectly  with  the  tenets  of  the  Stoical  school.  It 
is  remarkable,  that  after  having  observed  a  near  re- 
semblance in  the  most  sublime  sentiments  of  their 
moral  doctrine,  we  should  likewise  discover  such  a 
similarity  in  the  errors  of  their  theological  specula- 
tions.* 

The  human  mind,  however,  when  destitute  of 
superior  guidance,  is  apt  to  fall  into  a  practical 
error  with  respect  to  religion,  of  a  tendency  still 
more  dangerous.  When  philosophers,  by  their  at- 
tainments in  science,  began  to  acquire  such  just 
ideas  of  the  nature  and  perfections  of  the  Supreme 
Being,  as  convinced  them  that  the  popular  system 
of  superstition  was  not  only  absurd  but  impious, 
they  were  fully  aware  of  all  the  danger  which  might 
arise  from  communicating  what  they  had  discovered 
to  the  people,  incapable  of  comprehending  the  force 
6f  those  reasons  which  had  swayed  with  them,  and 
so  zealously  attached  to  established  opinions,  as  to 
revolt  against  any  attempt  to  detect  their  falsehood. 
Instead,  therefore,  of  allowing  any  ray  of  that  know- 
ledge which  illuminated  their  own  minds  to  reach 
them,  they  formed  a  theory  to  justify  their  own 
conduct,  and  to  prevent  the  darkness  of  that  cloud 
which  hung  over  the  minds  of  their  fellow- men 
from  being  ever  dispelled.  The  vulgar  and  un- 
learned, they  contended,  had  no  right  to  truth. 
Doomed  by  their  condition  to  remain  in  ignorance, 

*  Lipsij  Physiol.  Stoicor.  lib.  i,  dissert,  viii  xxL 
\ntoninus,  Epictetus,  passim. 

2  p 


^82  APPENDIX. 

they  were  to  be  kept  in  order  by  delusion,  and  al~ 
lured  to  do  what  is  right,  or  deterred  from  venturing 
upon  what  is  wrong,  by  the  hope  of  those  imagi- 
nary rewards  which  superstition  promises,  and  the 
dread  of  those  punishments  which  it  threatens.  In 
confirmation  of  this,  I  might  quote  the  doctrine  of 
most  of  the  philosophic  sects,  and  produce  the 
words  of  almost  every  eminent  Greek  and  Roman 
writer.  It  will  be  sufficient,  however,  to  lay  before 
my  readers  a  remarkable  passage  in  Strabo,  to 
whom  I  have  been  so  often  indebted  in  the  course 
of  my  researches,  and  who  was  no  less  qualified  to 
judge  with  respect  to  the  political  opinions  of  his 
contemporaries,  than  to  describe  the  countries 
which  they  inhabited.  "  What  is  marvellous  in 
fable,  is  employed,"  says  he,  "  sometimes  to  please, 
and  sometimes  to  inspire  terror,  and  both  these  are 
of  use,  not  only  with  children,  but  with  persons  of 
mature  age.  To  children  we  propose  delightful 
fictions,  in  order  to  encourage  them  to  act  well, 
and  such  as  are  terrible,  in  order  to  restrain  them 
from  evil,  Thus  when  men  are  united  in  society, 
they  are  incited  to  what  is  laudable,  by  hearing  the 
poets  celebrate  the  splendid  actions  of  fabulous 
story,  such  as  the  labours  of  Hercules  and  Theseus, 
in  reward  for  which  they  are  now  honoured  as  di- 
vinities, or  by  beholding  their  illustrious  deeds  ex- 
hibited to  public  view  in  painting  and  sculpture. 
On  the  other  hand,  they  are  deterred  from  vice, 
when  the  punishments  inflicted  by  the  gods  upon 
evil  doers  are  related,  and  threats  are  denounced 


APPENDIX.  283 

against  them  in  awful  words,  or  represented  by 
frightful  figures,  and  when  men  believe  that  these 
threats  have  been  really  executed  upon  the  guilty. 
For  it  is  impossible  to  conduct  women  and  the  gross 
multitude,  and  to  render  them  holy,  pious,  and  up- 
right, by  the  precepts  of  reason  and  philosophy ; 
superstition,  or  the  fear  of  the  gods,  must  be  called 
in  aid,  the  influence  of  which  is  founded  on  fictions 
and  prodigies.  For  the  thunder  of  Jupiter,  the 
regis  of  Minerva,  the  trident  of  Neptune,  the  torches 
and  snakes  of  the  furies,  the  spears  of  the  gods,  adorn- 
ed with  ivy,  and  the  whole  ancient  theology,  are  all 
fables,  which  the  legislators  who  formed  the  political 
constitution  of  states  employ  as  bugbears  to  overawe 
the  credulous  and  simple."* 

These  ideas  of  the  philosophers  of  Europe  were 
precisely  the  same  which  the  Brahmins  had  adopted 
in  India,  and  according  to  which  they  regulated 
their  conduct  with  respect  to  the  great  body  of  the 
people.  As  their  order  had  an  exclusive  right  to 
read  the  sacred  books,  to  cultivate  and  to  teach 
science,  they  could  more  effectually  prevent  all 
who  were  not  members  of  it  from  acquiring  any 
portion  of  information  beyond  what  they  were 
pleased  to  impart.  When  the  free  circulation  of 
knowledge  is  not  circumscribed  by  such  restric- 
tions, the  whole  community  derives  benefit  from 
every  new  acquisition  in  science,  the  influence  of 
which,  both  upon  sentiment  and  conduct,  extends 

«     *  Strabo,  lib.  i.  p.  36.  B, 


284  APPENDIX. 

insensibly  from  the  few  to  the  many,  from  the  learn: 
eel  to  the  ignorant.  But  wherever  the  dominion  of 
false  religion  is  completely  established,  the  body  of 
the  people  gain  nothing  by  the  greatest  improve- 
ments in  knowledge.  Their  philosophers  conceal 
from  them,  with  the  utmost  solicitude,  the  truths 
which  they  have  discovered,  and  labour  to  support 
that  fabric  of  superstition  which  it  was  their  duty  to 
have  overturned.  They  not  only  enjoin  others  to 
respect  the  religious  rites  prescribed  by  the  laws  of 
their  country,  but  conform  to  them  in  their  own  prac- 
tice, and  with  every  external  appearance  of  reverence 
and  devotion,  bow  down  before  the  altars  of  deities, 
who  must  inwardly  be  the  objects  of  their  contempt. 
Instead  of  resembling  the  teachers  of  true  religion 
in  the  benevolent  ardour  with  which  they  have 
always  communicated  to  their  fellow-men  the  know- 
ledge of  those  important  truths  with  which  their 
own  minds  were  enlightened  and  rendered  happy, 
the  sages  of  Greece  and  the  Brahmins  of  India,  car- 
ried on  with  studied  artifice  a  scheme  of  deceit,  and, 
according  to  an  emphatic  expression  of  an  inspired 
writer,  they  detained  the  truth  in  unrighteousness.* 
They  knew  and  approved  what  was  true,  but  among 
the  rest  of  mankind  they  laboured  to  support  and  to 
perpetuate  what  is  false. 

Thus  I  have  gone  through  all  the  particulars 
which  I  originally  proposed  to  examine,  and  have 
endeavoured  to  discover  the  state  of  the  inhabitants 
.of  India  with  respect  to  each  of  them.  If  I  had 

*  Rom.  i.  18. 


APPENDIX.  285 

aimed  at  nothing  else  than  to  describe  the  civil 
policy,  the  arts,  the  sciences,  and  religious  insti- 
tutions of  one  of  the  most  ancient  and  most  nu- 
merous race  of  men,  that  alone  would  have  led  me 
into  inquiries  and  discussions  both  curious  and  in- 
structive. I  own,  however,  that  I  have  all  along 
kept  in  view  an  object  more  interesting,  as  well  as 
of  greater  importance,  and  entertain  hopes,  that  if  the 
account  which  I  have  given  of  the  early  and  high 
civilization  of  India,  and  of  the  wonderful  progress 
of  its  inhabitants  in  elegant  arts  and  useful  science, 
shall  be  received  as  just  and  well-established,  it  may 
have  some  influence  upon  the  behaviour  of  Euro- 
peans towards  that  people.  Unfortunately  for  the 
human  species,  in  whatever  quarter  of  the  globe  the 
people  of  Europe  have  acquired  dominion,  they  have 
found  the  inhabitants  not  only  in  a  state  of  society 
and  improvement  far  inferior  to  their  own,  but  dif- 
ferent in  their  complexion  and  in  all  their  habits  of 
life.  Men  in  every  stage  of  their  career  are  so  sa- 
tisfied with  the  progress  made  by  the  community  of 
which  they  are  members,  that  it  becomes  to  them  a 
standard  of  perfection,  and  they  are  apt  to  regard 
people  whose  condition  is  not  similar,  with  con- 
tempt, and  even  aversion.  In  Africa  and  America, 
the  dissimilitude  is  so  conspicuous,  that,  in  the 
pride  of  their  superiority,  Europeans  thought  them- 
selves entitled  to  reduce  the  natives  of  the  former  to 
slavery,  and  to  exterminate  those  of  the  latter. 
Even  in  India,  though  far  advanced  beyond  the  two 
other  quarters  of  the  globe  in  improvement,  the 


'^86  APPENDIX, 

colour  of  the  inhabitants,  their  effeminate  appearance, 
their  un warlike  spirit,  the  wild  extravagance  of  their 
religious  tenets  and  ceremonies,  and  many  other  cir- 
cumstances, confirmed  Europeans  in  such  an  opinion 
of  their  own  pre-eminence,  that  they  have  always 
viewed  and  treated  them  as  an  inferior  race  of  men, 
Happy  would  it  be  if  any  of  the  four  European  na- 
tions,  who   have   successively  acquired   extensive 
territories  and  power  in  India,  could  altogether  vin- 
dicate itself  from  having  acted  in  this  manner.     No- 
thing, however,  can  have  a  more  direct  and  powerful 
tendency  to  inspire  Europeans,  proud  of  their  own 
superior  attainments   in  policy,   science,  and  arts, 
with  proper  sentiments    concerning  the  people  of 
India,  and  to  teach  them  a  due  regard  for  their  na- 
tural rights  as  men,  than  their  being  accustomed, 
not   only  to  consider   the  Hindoos  of  the  present 
times  as  a  knowing  and  ingenious  race  of  men,  but 
to  view  them  as  descended  from  ancestors  who  had 
attained   to  a  very   high  degree  of  improvement, 
many  ages  before  the  last  step  towards  civilization 
had  been  taken  in  any  part  of  Europe.    It  was  by  an 
impartial  and  candid  inquiry  into  their  manners,  that 
the  emperor  Akber  was  led  to  consider  the  Hindoos 
as  no  less  entitled  to  protection  and  favour  than  his 
other  subjects,  and  to  govern  them  with  such  equity 
and  mildness,  as  to  merit  from  a  grateful  people  the 
honourable  appellation  of  "  The  Guardian  of  Man- 
kind."    It  was  from  a  thorough  knowledge  of  their 
character  and  acquirements,    that  his  vizier  Abul 
Fazel,  with  a  liberality  of  mind  unexampled  among 


APPENDIX.  287 

Mahomedans,  pronounces  an  high  encomium  on  the 
virtues  of  the  Hindoos,  both  as  individuals  and  as 
members  of  society,  and  celebrates  their  attainments 
in  arts  and  sciences  of  every  kind  *  If  I  might  pre- 
sume to  hope  that  the  description  which  I  have 
given  of  the  manners  and  institutions  of  the  people 
of  India  could  contribute  in  the  smallest  degree,  and 
with  the  most  remote  influence  to  render  their  char- 
acter more  respectable,  and  their  condition  more 
happy,  I  shall  close  my  literary  labours,  with  the  sa- 
tisfaction of  thinking  that  I  have  not  lived  or  written 
in  vain. 

*  Ayeen  Akbery,  vol.  ift.  p.  2.  81.  95, 


NOTES 


AND 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


NOTE  I.  SECT.  I.  p.  r. 

CREDULITY  and  scepticism  are  two  opposite  ex- 
tremes into  which  men  are  apt  to  run  in  examining  the 
events  which  are  said  to  have  happened  in  the  early  ages 
of  antiquity.  Without  incurring  any  suspicion  of  a  pro- 
pensity to  the  latter  of  these,  I  may  be  allowed  to  enter- 
tain doubts  concerning  the  expedition  of  Sesostris  into 

India,  and  his  conquest  of  that  country. -1.  Few  facts 

in  ancient  history  seem  to  be  better  established,  than  that 
of  the  early  aversion  of  the  Egyptians  to  a  sea- faring  life. 
Even  the  power  of  despotism  cannot  at  once  change  the 
ideas  and  manners  of  a  nation,  especially  when  they  have 
been  confirmed  by  long  habit,  and  rendered  sacred  by 
the  sanction  of  religion.  That  Sesostris,  in  the  course, 
of  a  few  years,  should  have  so  entirely  overcome  the 
prejudices  of  a  superstitious  people,  as  to  be  able  to  fit 
out  four  hundred  ships  of  force,  in  the  Arabian  Gulf, 
besides  another  fleet  which  he  had  in  the  Mediterranean, 
appears  to  be  extremely  improbable.  Armaments  of 
such  magnitude  would  require  the  utmost  efforts  of  a 

20, 


290  NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

great  and  long-established  maritime  power.— 2.  It  is 
remarkable  that  Herodotus,  who  inquired  with  the  most 
persevering  diligence  into  the  ancient  history  of  Egypt, 
and    who    received   all    the    information   concerning    it 
which  the  priests  of   Memphis,  Heliopolis,  and   Thebes 
could  communicate,  Herodot.  Edit.  Wesselingij,  lib.  ii. 
c.  3.  although  he  relates  the  history  of  Sesostris  at  some 
length,  does  not  mention  his  conquest  of   India,  lib.  ii. 
c.  102,  &c.      That  tale,  it  is  probable,  was  invented  in 
the    period  between   the   age  of  Herodotus  and  that  of 
Diodorus  Siculus,  from    whom  we  receive  a  particular 
detail  of  the  Indian  expedition  of  Sesostris.   His  account 
rests  entirely  upon  the  authority  of  the  Egyptian  priests; 
and  Diodorus  himself  not  only  gives  it  as  his  general 
opinion,  "  that  many  things  which  they  related,  flowed 
rather  from  a  desire  to   promote  the  honour  of   their 
country,  than  from  attention  to  truth,"  lib.  i.  p.  34.  edit. 
Wesselingij,  Amst.    1746;  but  takes  particular   notice 
that  the  Egyptian  priests,  as  well  as  the  Greek  writers, 
differ  widely  from  one  another  in  the   accounts  which 
they  give  of  the  actions  of  Sesostris,  lib.  i.  p.  62.— 3. 
Though  Diodorus  asserts,  that  in  relating  the  history  of 
Sesostris,  he  had  studied  to  select  what  appeared  to  him 
most  probable,  and  most  agreeable  to  the  monuments  of 
that  monarch  still  remaining  in  Egypt,  he  has  admitted 
into  his  narrative  many  marvellous  circumstances,  which 
render  the  whole  extremely  suspicious.      The  father  of 
Sesostris,  as  he  relates,  collected  all   the  male  children 
who  were  born  in   Egypt  on  the  same  day  with  his  son, 
in  order  that  they  might  be  educated  together  with  him, 
conformable  to  a  mode  which  he  prescribed  with  a  view 
of  preparing  them  as   proper  instruments  to  carry  into 
execution  the  great  undertakings  for  which  he  destined 
Sesostris.      Accordingly,  when    Sesostris   set   out  upon 
his  Indian  expedition,  which,  from  circumstances  men- 
tioned  by  Diodorus,  must  have  been  about  the  fortieth 
year  of  his    age,  one    thousand   seven   hundred   of  his 
youthful  associates  are  said  to  have  been  still  alive,  and 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  291 

were  intrusted  with  high  command  in  his  army.  But 
if  we  apply  to  the  examination  of  this  story  the  certain 
principles  of  political  arithmetic,  it  is  evident,  that  if  one 
thousand  seven  hundred  of  the  male  children  born  on 
the  same  day  with  Sesostris  were  alive  when  his  great 
expedition  commenced,  the  number  of  children  born  in 
Egypt  on  each  day  of  the  year  must  have  been  at  least 
ten  thousand,  and  the  population  of  the  kingdom  must 
have  exceeded  sixty  millions;  Goguet  1'Origine  des 
Loix,  des  Arts,  &c.  torn.  ii.  p.  12,  &c.  a  number  far 
beyond  the  bounds  of  credibility,  in  a  kingdom  which, 
from  the  accurate  calculations  of  M.  D'Anville,  Me- 
moire  sur  PEgypt  Anc.  et  Moderne,  p.  23,  &c.  does  not 
contain  more  than  two  thousand  one  hundred  square 
leagues  of  habitable  ronntry.  Dprline  and  Fall  of  the 

Rom.  Emp.  vol.  v.  p.  348.  Another  marvellous  parti- 
cular is  the  description  of  a  ship  of  cedar,  four  hundred 
and  ninety  feet  in  length,  covered  on  the  outside  with 
gold,  and  on  the  inside  with  silver,  which  Sesostris  con- 
secrated to  the  deity  who  was  the  chief  object  of  worship 
at  Thebes.  Lib.  i.  p.  67.  Such  too  is  the  account  he 
gives  of  the  Egyptian  army,  in  which,  beside  six  hundred 
thousand  infantry,  and  twenty-fojur  thousand  cavalry, 
there  were  twenty-seven  thousand  armed  chariots.  Ibid, 
p.  64.  4.  These  and  other  particulars  appeared  so 
far  to  exceed  the  bounds  of  probability,  that  the  sound 
understanding  of  Strabo  the  geographer  rejected,  without 
hesitation,  the  accounts  of  the  Indian  expedition  of  Se- 
sostris ;  and  he  not  only  asserts,  in  the  most  explicit 
terms  that  this  monarch  never  entered  India,  lib.  xv,  p. 
1007.  C.  edit.  Causab.  Amst.  1707;  but  he  ranks  what 
has  been  related  concerning  his  operations  in  that  country 
with  the  fabulous  exploits  of  Bacchus  and  Hercules,  p. 
1007,  D.  1009.  B.  The  philosophical  historian  of 
Alexander  the  Great  seems  to  have  entertained  the  same 
sentiments  with  respect  to  the  exploits  of  Sesostris  in 
India.  Hist.  Ind.  c.  5.  Arrian  Eped.  Alex.  edit. 
Gronov.  L.  Bat.  1704. — What  slender  information  con- 


292  NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

cerning  India  or  its  inhabitants,  Herodotus  had  received,, 
seems  to  have  been  derived,  not  from  the  Egyptians,  but 
from  the  Persians,  lib.  iii.  c.  105 ;  which  renders  it 
probable,  that  in  his  time  there  was  little  intercourse 
between  Egypt  and  India.  If  Reland  be  well  founded 
in  his  opinion,  that  many  of  the  words  mentioned  by  an- 
cient authors  as  Indian  are  really  Persian,  we  may  con- 
clude that  there  was  an  early  intercourse  between  Persia 
and  India,  of  which  hardly  any  trace  remains  in  history. 
Reland.  Dissert,  de  Veteri  Lingua  Indie,  ap.  Dissert 
Miscel.  vol.  i.  p.  209. 


NOTF    TT.    SPCT.  T.  p.  8, 


When  we  consider  the  extent  and  effects  of  the  Phe- 
nician  commerce,  the  scanty  information  concerning  it 
•which  we  receive  from  ancient  writers  must,  on  a  first 
view,  appear  surprising.    But  when  we  recollect  that  all 
the  Greek  historians,  Herodotus  excepted,  who  give  any 
account  of  the  Phenicians,  published  their   works  long 
after  the  destruction  of  Tyre  by  Alexander  the  Great, 
we  will  cease  to  wonder  at  their  not  having  entered  into 
minute  details  with  respect  to  a  trade  which  was  then  re- 
moved to  new  seats,  and  carried  on  in  other    channels. 
But  the  power  and  opulence  of  Tyre,  in  the  prosperous 
age  of  its  commerce,  must  have  attracted  general  atten- 
tion.     In  the  prophecies  of  Ezekiel,  who  flourished  two 
hundred  and  sixty  years  before  the  fall  of  Tyre,  there  is 
the  most  particular  account  of  the  nature  and  variety  of 
its  commercial  transactions  that  is  to  be  found  in  any 
ancient  writer,   and  which  conveys  at  the  same  time  a 
magnificent  idea  of  the  extensive  power  of  that  state. 
Ch.  xxvi,  xxvii,  xxviii. 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  293 


NOTE  III.  SECT.  I.  p.  12. 


The  account  given  of  the  revenue  of  the  Persian 
monarchy  by  Herodotus  is  curious,  and  seems  to  have 
been  copied  from  some  public  record,  which  had  been 
communicated  to  him.  According  to  it  the  Persian 
empire  was  divided  into  twenty  satrapies,  or  govern- 
ments. The  tribute  levied  from  each  is  specified, 
amounting  in  all  to  14,560  Eubcean  talents,  which  Dr. 
Arbuthnot  reckons  to  be  equal  to  2,807,43 7 1.  sterling 
money ;  a  sum  extremely  small  for  the  revenue  of  the 
great  king,  and  which  ill  accords  with  many  facts,  con- 
cerning the  riches,  magnificence,  and  luxury  of  the  east, 
that  occur  in  ancient  authors. 


NOTE  IV.  SECT.  I.  p.  15, 


Major  Rennel,   in  the  second  edition  of  his  Memoir, 
has  traced,  from  very  imperfect  materials,  the  routes  by 
which  Alexander,  Tamerlane,  and  Nadir  Shah  penetrated 
into  India,  with  a  degree  of  accuracy  which  does  honour 
to  his  discernment,   and  displays  the  superiority  of  his 
knowledge,  in  the  ancient  and  modern  geography  of  that 
country.      His  researches  he  has  illustrated  by  an  addi- 
tional map.      To  these,   I  must  refer  my  readers.      Nor 
are  they  to  consider  his  laborious  investigation  merely 
as  an  object  of  curiosity ;    the  geography  of  that  fertile 
and   extensive   region   of  India,    distinguished   by   the 
nrme  of  Punjab,  with  which  we  are  at  present  little  ac- 
quainted, may  soon  become  very  interesting,      If,  on  the 
one  hand,  that  firm  foundation  on  which  the  British  em- 


394  NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

pire  in  India  seems  to  be  established,  by  the  successful 
termination  of  the  late  war,  remains  unshaken  ;— -if,  oil 
the  other  hand,  the  Seiks,  a  confederacy  of  several  in- 
dependent states,  shall  continue  to  extend  their  domi- 
nions with  the  same  rapidity  that  they  have  advanced 
since  the  beginning  of  the  current  century ;  it  is  highly 
probable  that  the  enterprising  commercial  spirit  of  the 
one  people,  and  the  martial  ardour  of  the  other,  who  still 
retain  the  activity  and  ardour  natural  to  men  in  the  ear- 
liest ages  of  social  union,  may  give  rise  to  events  of  the 
greatest  moment.  The  frontiers  of  the  two  states  are  ap- 
proaching gradually  nearer  and  nearer  to  each  other,  the 
territories  of  the  Seiks  having  reached  to  the  western 
bank  of  the  river  Jumnah,  while  those  of  the  nabob  of 
Oude  stretch  along  its  eastern  bank.  This  nabob,  the 
ally  or  tributary  of  the  East  India  company,  is  supported 
by  a  brigade  of  the  Bengal  army,  constantly  stationed  on 
his  western  frontier.  Ken.  Mem.  Introd.  p.  cxvi.  In 
a  position  so  contiguous,  rivalry  for  power,  interference 
of  interest,  and  innumerable  other  causes  of  jealousy  and 
discord,  can  hardly  fail  of  terminating,  sooner  or  later, 
in  open  hostility.  The  Seiks  possess  the  whole  soubah 
of  Lahore,  the  principal  part  of  Moultan,  and  the  western 
part  of  Delhi.  The  dimensions  of  this  tract  are  about 
400  British  miles  from  N.  W.  to  S.  E.  varying  in 
breadth  from  320  to  150  miles.  Their  capital  city  is 
Lahore.  Little  is  known  concerning  their  government 
and  political  maxims ;  but  they  are  represented  as  mild. 
In  their  mode  of  making  war,  they  are  unquestionably 
savage  and  cruel.  Their  army  consists  almost  entirely 
of  horse ;  of  which  they  can  bring  at  least  100,000  into 
the  field.  Maj.  Ren.  Mem.  2d  edit.  Introd.  p.  cxxi,  cxxiL 
and  p.  365.  See  also  Mr.  Craufurd's  Sketches,  2d  edit, 
vol.  ii.  p.  263,  &c. 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS  295 


NOtE  V.  SECT.  I.   17. 

It  is  surprising  that  Alexander  did  not  receive,  in  the 
provinces  contiguous  to  India,  such  an  account  of  the 
periodical  rains  in  that  country,  as  to  show  him  the  impro- 
priety of  carrying  on  military  operations  there  while  these 
continued.  His  expedition  into  India  commenced  towards 
the  end  of  spring,  Arrian,  lib.  iv.  c.  22.,  when  the  rains 
were  already  begun  in  the  mountains  from  which  all  the 
rivers  in  the  Panjab  flow,  and  of  course  they  must  have 
been  considerably  swelled  before  he  arrived  on  their  banks. 
Rennel,  p.  268 — He  passed  the  Hydaspes  at  midsum- 
mer, about  the  height  of  the  rainy  season.  In  a  country 
through  which  so  many  large  rivers  run,  an  army  on 
service  at  this  time  of  the  year  must  have  suffered 
greatly.  An  accurate  description  of  the  nature  of  the 
rains  and  inundations  in  this  part  of  India,  is  given  by 
Arrian,  lib.  v.  c.  9  ;  and  one  still  fuller  may  be 
found  in  Strabo,  lib.  xv.  1013. — It  was  of  what  they 
suffered  by  these  that  Alexander's  soldiers  complained, 
Strabo,  lib.  xv.  1021.  D  ;  and  not  without  reason,  as 
it  had  rained  incessantly  during  seventy  days,  Diod. 
Sicul.  xvii.  c.  94. — A  circumstance  which  marks  the 
accuracy  with  which  Alexander's  officers  had  attended 
to  every  thing  in  that  part  of  India,  deserves  notice. 
Aristobulus,  in  his  journal,  which  I  have  mentioned, 
observes  that,  though  heavy  rains  fell  in  the  moun- 
tains, and  in  the  country  near  to  them,  in  the  plains 
below  not  so  much  as  a  shower  fell.  Strabo,  lib. 
xv.  1013.  B.  1O15.  B.  Major  Rennei  was  informed 
by  a  person  of  character,  who  had  resided  in  this  dis- 
trict of  India,  which  is  now  seldom  visited  by  Eu- 
ropeans, that  during  great  part  of  the  S.  W.  monsoon, 
or  at  least  in  the  months  of  July,  August,  and  part 
of  September,  which  is  the  rainy  season  in  most  other 
parts  of  India,  the  atmosphere  in  the  Delta  of  tht  In- 


296  NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

dus  is  generally  clouded,  but  no  rain  falls  except  very- 
near  the  sea.  Indeed  very  few  showers  fall  during  the 
whole  season.  Capt.  Hamilton  relates  that  when  he 
visited  Tatta,  no  rain  had  fallen  for  three  years  before. 
Memoirs,  p.  288. — Tamerlane,  who,  by  the  vicinity  of 
the  seat  of  his  government  to  India,  had  the  means  of 
being  well  informed  concerning  the  nature  of  the  coun- 
try, avoided  the  error  of  Alexander,  and  made  his  In- 
dian campaign  during  the  dry  season.  As  Nadir  Shah, 
both  when  he  invaded  India,  A.  D.  1738,  and  in  his 
return  next  year,  marched  through  the  same  countries 
with  Alexander,  and  nearly  in  the  same  line  of  direction, 
nothing  can  give  a  more  striking  idea  of  the  persevering 
ardour  of  the  Macedonian  conqueror,  than  the  descrip- 
tion of  the  difficulties  which  Nadir  Shah  had  to  sur- 
mount, and  the  hardships  which  his  army  endured. 
Though  possessed  of  absolute  power  and  immense 
wealth,  and  distinguished  no  less  by  great  talents  than 
long  experience  in  the  conduct  of  war,  he  had  the  morti- 
fication to  lose  a  great  part  of  his  troops  in  crossing  the 
rivers  of  the  Panjab,  in  penetrating  through  the  moun- 
tains to  the  north  of  India,  and  in  conflicts  with  the 
fierce  natives  inhabiting  the  countries  which  stretch  from 
the  banks  of  the  Oxus  to  the  frontiers  of  Persia.  An 
interesting  account  of  his  retreat  and  sufferings  is  given 
in  the  Memoirs  of  Khojeh  Abdulkurren,  a  Cashnxerian 
of  distinction,  who  served  in  his  army. 


NOTE  VI.  SECT.  I.  p.  19, 


That  a  fleet  so  numerous  should  have  been  collected 
in  such  a  short  time,  is  apt  to  appear,  at  first  sight,  in- 
credible. Arrian,  however,  assures  us,  that  in  specifying 
this  number,  he  followed  Ptolemy,  the  son  of  Lagus,  whose 
authority  he  considered  to  be  of  the  greatest  weight, 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  W 

lib.  vi.  c.  3.  But  as  the  Panjab  country  is  full  of  navi- 
gable rivers,  on  which  all  the  intercourse  among  the  na- 
tives was  carried  on,  it  abounded  with  vessels  ready 
constructed  to  the  conqueror's  hands,  so  that  he  might 
easily  collect  that  number.  If  we  could  give  credit  to 
the  account  of  the  invasion  of  India  by  Semiramis,  no 
fewer  than  four  thousand  vessels  were  assembled  in  the 
Indus  to  oppose  her  fleet.  Diod.  Sicul.  lib.  ii.  c.  74.—* 
It  is  remarkable  that  when  Mahmoud  of  Gaznah  in- 
vaded India,  a  fleet  was  collected  on  the  Indus  to  oppose 
him,  consisting  of  the  same  number  of  vessels.  We 
learn  from  the  Ayeen  Akbery,  that  the  inhabitants  of 
this  part  of  India,  still  continue  to  carry  on  all  their 
communications  with  each  other  by  water;  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  circar  of  Tatta  alone  have  not  less  than 
forty  thousand  vessels  of  various  constructions.  Vo.1. 
ii.  p.  143. 


NOTE  VII.  SECT.  I.  p.  20. 

All  these  particulars  are  taken  from  the  Indian  His- 
tory of  Arrian,  a  work  different  from  that  already  men- 
tioned, and  one  of  the  most  curious  treatises  transmitted 
to  us  from  antiquity.  The  first  part  of  it  consists  of  ex- 
tracts from  the  account  given  by  Nearchus  of  the  cli- 
mate and  soil  of  India,  and  the  manners  of  the  natives. 
The  second  contains  that  officer's  journal  of  his  voyage 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Indus  to  the  bottom  of  the  Per- 
sian Gulf.  The  perusal  of  it  gives  rise  to  several  ob- 
servations.— 1.  It  is  remarkable  that  neither  Nearchus, 
nor  Ptolemy,  nor  Aristobulus,  nor  even  Arrian,  once 
mention  the  voyage  of  Scylax.  This  could  not  proceed 
from  their  being  unacquainted  with  it,  for  Herodotus 
was  a  favourite  author  in  the  hands  of  every  Greek  who 
had  any  pretensions  to  literature.  It  was  probably  occa- 
sioned by  the  reasons  which  they  had  to  distrust  the 

2  R 


29*  NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

veracity  of  Scylax,  of  which  I  have  already  taken  notice* 
Accordingly,   in    a   speech   which  Arrian  puts  into  the 
mouth  of  Alexander,  he  asserts  that,  except  Bacchus,  he 
was  the   first  who  had  passed  the  Indus ;   which  implies, 
that   he    disbelieved  what  is  related  concerning  Scylax, 
and  was  not  acquainted  with  what  Darius  Hystaspes  is 
said  to  have  done  in  order  to  subject  that  part  of  India 
to  the  Persian  crown.      Arrian,  vii.  c.   10.     This  opi- 
nion is  confirmed  by   Megasthenes,  who  resided  a  con- 
siderable time    in    India.      He  asserts  that,  except  Bac- 
chus and  Hercules  (to  whose  fabulous  expeditions  Stra- 
bo  is  astonished  that  he  should   have    given  any   credit, 
lib.  xv.  p.  100".  D.)   Alexander  was   the  first  who  had 
invaded  India;   Arrian,   Hist.  Indie,  c.  5.     We  are  in- 
formed by  Arrian,  that  the  Assacani,  and  other  people 
who  possessed  that  country,  which  is  now  called  the  king- 
dom of  Candahar,  paid  tribute,  first  to  the  Assyrians, 
and  afterwards  to  the  Medes   and  Persians  ;   Hist.  In- 
clic.  c.  1.      As    all    the    fertile    provinces  on  the  north- 
west of  the  Indus  were  anciently  reckoned  to  be  part  of 
India,   it  is  probable  that  what  was  levied  from  them  is 
the    sum  mentioned  in  the  tribute  roll,  from  which  He- 
rodotus drew  his  account   of  the  annual  revenue  of  the 
Persian  empire,  and  that  none  of  the  provinces  to  the 
south  of  the  Indus  were  ever  subject  to  the  kings  of  Per- 
sia.—2.    This  voyage  of  Nearchus  affords  some  striking 
instances  of  the  imperfect  knowledge  which  the  ancients 
had  of  any  navigation  different  from  that  to  which  they 
Avere   accustomed  in  the  Mediterranean.     Though  the 
enterprising  genius  and   enlarged  views  of    Alexander 
prompted  him  to  attempt  opening  an  intercourse  by  sea, 
between   India  and  his   Persian  dominions,  yet  both  he 
and  Nearchus  knew    so  little   of  the  ocean  which  they 
wished  to  explore,  as  to  be  apprehensive,  that  it   might 
be  found  impossible  to  navigate  it,  on  account  of  imper- 
vious  straits,  or  other  obstacles.      Hist.    Inclic.    c.    2O. 
Q.  Curt.  lib.  ix.  c.  9.     When   the  fleet  arrived  neat  the 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS,  299 

mouth  of  the  Indus,  the  astonishment  excited  by  the  ex- 
traordinary ebb  and  flow  of  tide  in  the  Indian  ocean,  a 
phenomenon  (according  to  Arrian)  with  which  Alexan- 
der and  his  soldiers  were  unacquainted,  lib.  vi.  c.  19.  is 
another  proof  of  their  ignorance  in  maritime  sciepce. 
Nor  is  there  any  reason  to  be  surprised  at  their  aston- 
ishment, as  the  tides  are  hardly  perceptible  in  the  Me- 
diterranean, beyond  which  the  knowledge  of  the  Greeks 
and  Macedonians  did  not  extend.  For  the  same  rea- 
son, when  the  Romans  carried  their  victorious  arms  in- 
to the  countries  situated  on  the  Atlantic  ocean,  or  on  the 
seas  that  communicate  with  it,  this  new  phenomenon  of 
the  tides  was  an  object  of  wonder  and  terror  to  them. 
Cesar  describes  the  amazement  of  his  soldiers  at  a 
spring-tide,  which  greatly  damaged  the  fleet  with  which 
he  invaded  Britain,  and  acknowledges  that  it  was  an 
appearance  with  which  they  were  unacquainted ;  Bell. 
Gallic,  lib.  iv.  c.  29.  The  tides  on  the  coast  near  the 
mouth  of  the  Indus  are  remarkably  high,  and  the  effects, 
of  them  very  great,  especially  that  sudden  and  abrupt 
influx  of  the  tide  into  the  mouths  of  rivers  or  narrow 
straits  which  is  known  in  India,  by  the  name  of  Tht 
Bore^  and  is  accurately  described  by  major  Rennell, 
Introd.  xxiv.  Mem.  278.  In  the  Periplus  Maris  Ery- 
thrsei,  p.  26.  these  high  tides  are  mentioned,  and  the  de- 
scription of  them  nearly  resembles  that  of  the  Bore.  A 
very  exaggerated  account  of  the  tides  in.  the  Indian 
ocean  is  given  by  Pliny,  Nat.  Hi$t.  lib.  xiii.  c.  25.  Ma- 
jor Rennell  seems  to  think,  that  Alexander  and  his  fol- 
lowers could  not  be  so  entirely  unacquainted  with  the 
phenomenon  of  the  tides,  as  Herodotus  had  informed  the 
Greeks,  u  that  in  the  Red  Sea  there  was  a  regular  ebb 
and  flow  of  the  tide  every  day  ;"  lib.  ii.  c.  11.  This  is 
all  the  explanation  of  that  phenomenon  given  by  Hero- 
dotus. But  among  the  ancients  there  occur  instances 
of  inattention  to  facts,  related  by  respectable  authors, 
which  appear  surprising  in  modern  times.  Though  He.- 


300  NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

rodotus,  as  I  have  just  now  observed,  gave  an  account  of 
the  voyage  performed  by  Scylax  at  a  considerable  length, 
neither  Alexander,  nor  his  historians,  take  any  notice  o£ 
that  event.  I  shall  afterwards  have  occasion  to  men- 
tion a  more  remarkable  instance  of  the  inattention  of 
later  writers  to  an  accurate  description  which  Herodotus 
had  given  of  the  Caspian  sea.  From  these,  and  other 
similar  instances  which  might  have  been  produced,  we 
may  conclude,  that  the  slight  mention  of  the  regular 
flow  and  ebb  of  tide  in  the  Red  Sea,  is  not  a  sufficient 
reason  for  rejecting,  as  incredible,  Arrian's  account  of 
the  surprise  of  Alexander's  soldiers  when  they  first  be- 
held the  extraordinary  effects  of  the  tide  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Indus.- — 3.  The  course  of  Nearchus's  voyage,  the 
promontories,  the  creeks,  the  rivers,  the  cities,  the  moun- 
tains, which  came  successively  in  his  view,  are  so  clearly 
described,  and  the  distances  of  such  as  were  most  wor- 
thy of  notice  are  so  distinctly  marked,  that  M.  D'An- 
ville,  by  comparing  these  with  the  actual  position  of  the 
country,  according  to  the  best  accounts  of  it,  ancient  as 
well  as  modern,  has  been  able  to  point  out  most  of  the 
places  which  Nearchus  mentions,  with  a  degree  of  cer- 
tainty which  does  as  much  honour  to  the  veracity  of  the 
Grecian  navigator  as  to  the  industry,  learning,  and  pe- 
netration of  the  French  geographer.  Mem.  de  Literat. 
torn.  xxx.  p.  132,  &c. 

In  modern  times,  the  Red  Sea  is  a  name  appropriat- 
ed to  the  Arabian  Gulf,  but  the  ancients  denominated  the 
ocean  which  stretches  from  that  Gulf  to  India,  the  Ery- 
thrsean  sea,  from  king  Erythras,  of  whom  nothing  more 
is  known  than  the  name,  which  in  the  Greek  language 
signifies  red.  From  this  casual  meaning  of  the  word, 
it  came  to  be  believed,  that  it  was  of  a  different  colour 
from  other  seas,  and  consequently  of  more  dangerous 
navigation, 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS, 


NOTE  VIII.  SECT.  I.  p.  26, 

Alexander  was  so  intent  on  rendering  this  union  of 
his  subjects  complete,  that  after  his  death  there  was 
found  in  his  tablets  or  commentaries,  (among  other 
magnificent  schemes  which  he  meditated,)  a  resolution 
to  build  several  new  cities,  some  in  Asia,  and  some  in 
Europe,  and  to  people  those  in  Asia  with  Europeans, 
and  those  in  Europe  with  Asiatics,  "  that,  (says  the  his- 
torian,) by  intermarriages,  and  exchange  of  good  offices, 
the  inhabitants  of  these  two  great  continents  might  be 
gradually  moulded  into  a  similarity  of  sentiments,  and 
become  attached  to  each  other  with  mutual  affection." 
Diod.  Sicul.  lib.  xviii.  c.  4. 

The  oriental  historians  have  mingled  the  little  that 
they  know  concerning  the  transactions  of  European  na- 
tions particularly  concerning  the  reign  of  Alexander  the 
Great,  and  his  conquest  of  Persia,  with  so  many  fabu- 
lous and  incredible  circumstances,  that  hardly  any  atten- 
tion is  due  to  them.  Though  they  misrepresented  every 
event  in  his  life,  they  entertained  an  high  idea  of  his 
great  power,  distinguishing  him  by  the  appellation  of 
Escander  Dhulcarnein,  i.  e.  the  Two-horned^  in  allusion 
to  the  extent  of  his  dominions,  which,  according  to 
them,  reached  from  the  western  to  the  eastern  extremity 
of  the  earth.  Herbelot.  Bib.  Orient.  Article  Escander. 
Anc.  Univ.  Hist.  vol.  8vo.  edit.  p.  433.  Richardson's 
Dissert,  prefixed  to  his  Dictionary  of  the  Persian  and 
Arabic,  p.  xii.  Whether  the  historians  of  Indostan 
have  given  an  account  of  Alexander's  invasion  of  India 
with  greater  accuracy,  cannot  be  known,  until  some  of 
their  works,  written  in  the  Sanskreet,  are  translated* 
That  some  traditional  knowledge  of  Alexander's  inva- 
sion of  India  is  still  preserved  in  the  northern  provinces 
of  the  peninsula,  is  still  manifest  from  several  circum- 


302  NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

stances;  The  rajahs  of  Chitore,  who  are  esteemed  the 
most  ancient  establishment  of  Hindoo  princes,  and  the 
noblest  of  the  Rajahpout  tribes,  boast  of  their  descent 
from  Poms,  famous  as  well  in  the  east  as  in  the  west 
for  his  gallant  opposition  to  the  Macedonian  conqueror. 
Orme's  Fragm.  p.  5.  Major  Rennell  has  informed  me 
by  accounts  lately  received  from  India,  and  confirmed 
by  a  variety  of  testimonies,  that,  in  the  country  of  Kut- 
tore,  the  eastern  extreme  of  the  ancient  Bactria,  a  peo- 
ple who  claimed  to  be  the  descendants  of  Alexander's 
followers,  were  existing  when  Tamerlane  invaded  that 
province.  In  Bijore,  a  country  more  to  the  west  in  the 
same  district,  the  Bazira  of  Alexander,  there  is  a  tribe 
at  this  day  which  traces  its  origin  to  certain  persons  left 
there  by  the  conqueror  when  he  passed  through  that 
province.  Both  Abul  Fazel,  and  Soojah  Rae,  an  east- 
ern historian  of  good  reputation,  report  this  tradition 
without  any  material  variation.  The  latter,  indeed, 
adds,  that  these  Europeans,  if  we  may  call  them  so, 
continued  to  preserve  that  ascendency  over  their  neigh- 
bours, which  their  ancestors  may  be  supposed  to  have 
possessed  when  they  first  settled  here.  Although  we 
should  reject  this  pedigree  as  false,  yet  the  bare  claim 
argues  the  belief  of  the  natives,  for  which  there  must 
have  been  some  foundation,  that  Alexander  not  only 
conquered  Bijore,  but  also  transferred  that  conquest  to 
some  of  his  own  countrymen.  Rennell  Mem.  2d  edit, 
p.  162.  The  people  of  Bijore  had  likewise  an  high  idea 
of  Alexander's  extensive  authority;  and  they,  too,  de- 
nominated him  the  Two-horned,  agreeably  to  the  striking 
emblem  of  power  in  all  the  eastern  languages.  Ayeeii 
Akbcry,  xi.  194.  Many  instances  of  this  emblem  be- 
ing used,  will  occur  to  every  person  accustomed  to  read 
the  sacred  scriptures, 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS  303 


NOTE  IX.  SECT.  I.  p.  28. 

It  seems  to  be  an  opinion  generally  received,  that 
Alexander  built  only  two  cities  in  India,  Nicaea,  and 
Bucephalia,  situated  on  the  Hydaspes,  the  modern  Che- 
lum,  and  that  Craterus  superintended  the  building  of 
both.  But  it  is  evident,  from  Arrian  lib.  v.  c.  ult.  that 
he  built  a  third  city  on  the  Acesines,  now  the  Jenaub, 
under  the  direction  of  Hephaestion  ;  and  if  it  was  hi* 
object  to  retain  the  command  of  the  country,  a  place  of 
strength  on  some  of  the  rivers  to  the  south  of  the  Hy- 
daspes seems  to  have  been  necessary  for  that  purpose. 
This  part  of  India  has  been  so  little  visited  in  modern 
times,  that  it  is  impossible  to  point  out  with  precision, 
the  situation  of  these  cities.  If  P.  Tieffanthaler  were 
well  founded  in  his  conjecture,  that  the  river  now  called 
Rauvee  is  the  Acesines  of  Arrian,  Bernouilli,  vol.  i.  p. 
39.  it  is  probable  that  this  city  was  built  somewhere 
near  Lehore,  one  of  the  most  important  stations  in  that 
part  of  India,  and  reckoned  in  the  Ayeen  Akbery  to 
be  a  city  of  very  high  antiquity.  But  major  Rennell,  iii 
my  opinion,  gives  good  reasons  for  supposing  the  Je- 
riaub  to  be  the  Acesines  of  the  ancients. 


NOTE  X.  SECT.  I.  p.  28. 

The  religious  scruples  which  prevented  the  Persians 
from  making  any  voyage  by  sea,  were  known  to  the  an- 
cients. Pliny  relates  of  one  of  the  magi,  who  was  sent 
on  an  embassy  from  Tiridates  to  the  emperor  Nero, 
"  Navigare  noluerat,  quoniam  exspuere  in  maria,  aliis- 
que  mortal! um  necessitatibus  violare  naturam  earn,  fas 
non  putant;"  Nat.  Hist.  lib.  xxx.  c.  2.  This  aversion  to 


304  NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

the  sea  they  carried  so  far,  that,  according  to  the  obseiv 
vation  of  a  well-informed  historian,  there  was  not  a  city 
of  any  note  in  their  empire  built  upon  the  sea- coast  ; 
Ammian.  Marcel,  lib.  xxiii.  c.  6.  We  learn  from  Dr. 
Hyde,  how  intimately  these  ideas  were  connected  with 
the  doctrines  of  Zoroaster ;  Rel.  Vet.  Pers.  cap.  vi.  la 
all  the  wars  of  the  Persians  with  Greece,  the  fleets  of 
the  great  king  consisted  entirely  of  ships  furnished  by 
the  Phenicians,  Syrians,  the  conquered  provinces  of  the 
JLesser  Asia,  and  the  islands  adjacent.  Herodotus  and 
Diodorus  Siculus  mention  the  quota  furnished  by  each 
country  in  order  to  compose  the  fleet  of  twelve  hundred 
.ships  with  which  Xerxes  invaded  Greece,  and  among 
these  there  is  not  one  belonging  to  Persia.  At  the  same 
time  it  is  proper  to  observe,  that  according  to  Herodo- 
tus, whose  authority  is  unexceptionable  with  regard  to 
this  point,  Ariabigines,  a  son  of  Darius,  acted  as  admi- 
ral of  the  Persian  fleet,  and  had  several  satraps  of  high 
rank  under  his  command,  and  both  Persians  and  Medes 
served  as  soldiers  on  board  it ;  Herod,  lib.  vii.  c.  96, 
97.  By  what  motives,  or  what  authority,  they  were  in- 
duced to  act  in  this  manner,  I  cannot  explain.  From 
some  religious  scruples,  similar  to  those  of  the  Persians, 
many  of  the  natives  of  Indostan,  in  our  own  time,  refuse 
to  embark  on  board  a  ship,  and  to  serve  at  sea ;  and  yet 
on  some  occasions,  the  sepoys  in  the  service  of  the  Eu- 
ropean powers  have  got  the  better  of  these  scruples. 


NOTE  XL  SECT.  I.  p.  29. 


M.  Le  Baron  de  Sainte-Croix.  in  his  ingenious  and 
learned  Critique  des  Historiens  d'Alexandre  le  Grand, 
p.  96.  seems  to  entertain  some  doubt  with  respect  to 
the  number  of  the  cities  which  Alexander  is  said  to  have 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS,  303 

built.  Plutarch  de  Fort.  Alex,  affirms,  that  he  founded 
no  fewer  than  seventy.  It  appears  from  many  passages 
in  ancient  authors,  that  the  buildings  of  cities,  or,  what 
may  be  considered  as  the  same,  the  establishment  of  forti- 
fied stations,  was  the  mode  of  maintaining  their  authority 
in  the  conquered  nations,  adopted  not  only  by  Alexander, 
but  by  his  successors.  Seleucus  and  Antiochus,  to  whom, 
the  greater  part  of  the  Persian  empire  became  subject, 
were  no  less  remarkable  for  founding  new  cities  than 
Alexander,  and  these  cities  seem  fully  to  have  answered 
the  purposes  of  the  founders,  as  they  effectually  prevented 
(as  I  shall  afterwards  have  occasion  to  observe)  the  revolt 
of  the  conquered  provinces.  Though  the  Greeks,  ani- 
mated with  the  love  of  liberty  and  of  their  native  country, 
refused  to  settle  in  the  Persian  empire  while  under  the 
dominion  of  its  native  monarchs,  even  when  allured  by 
the  prospect  of  great  advantage,  as  M.  de  Sainte-Croix 
remarks,  the  case  became  perfectly  different,  when  that 
empire  was  subjected  to  their  own  dominion,  and  they 
settled  there,  not  as  subjects  but  as  masters.  Both  Alex- 
ander and  his  successors  discovered  much  discernment  in 
choosing  the  situation  of  the  cities  which  they  built. 
Seleucia,  which  Seleucus  founded,  is  a  striking  instance 
of  this,  and  became  hardly  inferior  to  Alexandria  in 
number  of  inhabitants,  in  wealth,  and  in  importance ; 
Mr.  Gibbon,  vol.  i.  p.  250.  M.  D'Anville,  Mem,  de 
Literat.  xxx. 


NOTE  XII.     SECT.  I.  p.  32. 


IT  is  from  Justin  we  receive  the  slender  knowledge  we 
have  of  the  progress  which  Seleucus  made  in  India; 
lib.  xv.  c.  4.  But  we  cannot  rely  on  his  evidence,  un- 
less when  it  is  confirmed  by  the  testimony  of  other  au- 
thors. Plutarch  seems  to  assert,  that  Seleucus  had  pene- 


3QG  NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

trated  far  into  India ;  but  that  respectable  writer  is  more 
eminent  for  his  discernment  of  characters,  and  his  happy 
selection  of  those  circumstances  which  mark  and  discri- 
minate them,  than  for  the  accuracy  of  his  historical  re- 
searches. Pliny,  whose  authority  is  of  greater  weight 
seems  to  consider  it  as  certain,  that  Seleucus  had  carried 
his  arms  into  districts  of  India  which  Alexander  never 
visited;  Plin.  Nat.  Hist.  lib.  vi.  c.  17.  The  passage  in 
which  this  is  mentioned,  is  somewhat  obscure,  but  it 
seems  to  imply,  that  Seleucus  had  marched  from  the 
Hyphasis  to  the  Hysudrus,  from  thence  to  Palibothra, 
and  from  that  to  the  mouth  of  the  Ganges.  The  distan- 
ces of  the  principal  stations  in  this  march  are  marked, 
the  whole  amounting  to  2244  Roman  miles.  In  this  sense, 
M.  Bayer  understands  the  words  of  Pliny;  Histor. 
Regni  Grsecorum  Bactriani,  p.  37.  But  to  me  it  appears 
highly  improbable,  that  the  Indian  expedition  of  Seleucus 
could  have  continued  so  long  as  to  allow  time  for  opera- 
tions of  such  extent.  If  Seleucus  had  advanced  as  far 
into  India  as  the  mouth  of  the  Ganges,  the  ancients  must 
have  had  a  more  accurate  knowledge  of  that  part  of  thfe* 
country  than  they  seem  ever  to  have  possessed. 


NOTE  XIII.     SECT.  I.  p.  33. 


Major  Rennell  gives  a  magnificent  idea  of  this,  by 
mforming  us,  that  "the  Ganges,  after  it  has  escaped 
from  the  mountainous  tract  in  which  it  had  wandered 
above  eight  hundred  miles,"  Mem.  p.  233.  "  receives 
in  its  course  through  the  plains  eleven  rivers,  some  of 
them  as  large  as  the  Rhine,  and  none  smaller  than  the 
Thames,  besides  as  many  more  of  lesser  note ;"  p.  257. 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  307 


NOTE  XIV.   SECT.  I.  p.  33- 


In  fixing  the  position  of  Palibothra,  I  have  ventur- 
ed to  differ  from  Major  Rennell,  and  I  venture  to  do 
so  with  diffidence.  According  to  Strabo,  Palibothra 
was  situated  at  the  junction  of  the  Ganges  and  another 
river;  lib.  xv.  p.  1028.  A.  Arrian  is  still  more  ex- 
plicit. He  places  Palibothra,  at  the  confluence  of  the 
Ganges  and  Erranaboas,  the  last  of  which  he  describes 
as  less  than  the  Ganges  or  Indus,  but  greater  than  any 
other  known  river;  Hist.  Ind.  c.  10.  This  description 
of  its  situation  corresponds  exactly  with  that  of  Allaha- 
bad. P.  Boudier,  to  whose  observations  the  geography 
of  India  is  much  indebted,  says,  that  the  Jumna,  at 
its  junction  with  the  Ganges,  appeared  to  him  not  infe- 
rior in  magnitude  to  that  river;  D'Anville,  Antiq.  de 
1'Inde,  p.  53.  Allahabad  is  the  name  which  was  givea 
to  that  city  by  the  emperor  Akbar,  who  erected  a  strong 
fortress  there ;  an  elegant  delineation  of  which  is  pub- 
lished by  Mr.  Hodges,  No.  IV.  of  his  Select  Views  in 
India.  Its  ancient  name,  by  which  it  is  still  known ' 
among  the  Hindoos,  is  Praeg,  or  Piyag,  and  the  people 
of  the  district  are  called  Praegi,  which  bears  a  near 
resemblance  to  Prasij,  the  ancient  appellation  of  the 
kingdom  of  which  Palibothra  was  the  capital ;  P. 
Tiessenthaler,  Bernouilli,  torn  i.  223.  D'Anville, 
p.  56.  Allahabad  is  such  a  noted  seat  of  Hindoo  devo- 
tion, that  it  is  denominated  The  king  of  Worshipped  Pla- 
ces ;  Ayeen  Akberry,  vol.  ii.  p.  35.  "  The  territory 
around  it,  to  the  extent  of  forty  miles,  is  deemed  holy 
ground.  The  Hindoos  believe,  that  when  a  man  dies 
in  this  place,  whatever  he  wishes  for  he  will  obtain 
in  his  next  regeneration.  Although  they  teach  that 
suicide  in  general  will  be  punished  with  torments 


St»8  IsTOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

hereafter,  yet  they  consider  it  as  meritorious  for  a  man 
to  kill  himself  at  Allahabad;"  Ayeen  Akberry,  iii. 
256.  P.  Tiessenthaler  describes  the  various  objects 
of  veneration  at  Allahabad,  which  are  still  visited  with 
great  devotion  by  an  immense  number  of  pilgrims ; 
Bernouilli,  torn.  i.  224.  From  all  these  circumstances, 
we  may  conclude  it  to  be  a  place  of  great  anti- 
quity, and  in  the  same  situation  with  the  Palibothra  of 
antiquity. 

Major  Rennell  has  been  induced  to  place  Palibo- 
thra on  the  same  site  with  Patna,  chiefly  by  two  con- 
siderations.— —1.  From  having  learned  that  on  or  near 
the  site  of  Patna  stood  anciently  a  very  large  city  named 
Patelpoot-her  or  Patalipputra,  which  nearly  resembles 
the  ancient  name  of  Palibothra.  Although  there  is  not 
now  a  confluence  of  two  rivers  at  Patna,  he  was  inform- 
ed that  the  junction  of  the  Soane  with  the  Ganges,  now 
twenty- two  miles  above  Patna,  was  formerly  under  the 
walls  of  that  city.  The  rivers  of  India  sometimes 
change  their  course  in  a  singular  manner,  and  he  produ- 
ces some  remarkable  instances  of  it.  But  even  should  it 
be  allowed,  that  the  accounts  which  the  natives  give  of 
-this  variation  in  the  course  of  the  Soane  were  perfectly 
accurate,  I  question  whether  Arrian's  description  of  the 
magnitude  of  Erranaboas  be  applicable  to  that  river,  cer- 
tainly not  so  justly  as  to  the  Jumna. -2.  He  seems  to 

have  been  influenced,  in  some  degree,  by  Pliny's  Itine- 
rary, or  Table  Distances  from  Taxila  (the  modern  At- 
tock)  to  the  mouth  of  the  Ganges;  Nat.  Hist.  lib.  vi.  c.  17. 
But  the  distances  in  that  Itinerary  are  marked  so  inac- 
curately, and  in  some  instances  are  so  palpably  erroneous, 
that  one  cannot  found  upon  them  with  much  security. 
According  to  it,  Palibothra  is  situated  four  hundred 
and  twenty-five  miles  below  the  confluence  of  the  Jumna 
and  Ganges.  The  actual  distance,  however,  between  Al~ 
lahabad  and  Patna,  is  not  more  than  two  hundred  Bri- 
tish miles.  A  disagreement  so  considerable  cannot  be 
accounted  for,  without  supposing  some  extraordinary 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS'.  309 

error  in  the  Itinerary,  or  that  the  point  of  conflux  of  the 
Jumna  with  the  Ganges  has  undergone  a  change.  For 
the  former  of  these  suppositions  there  is  no  authority 
(as  far  as  I  know)  from  any  manuscript,  or  for  the  latter 
from  any  tradition.  Major  Rennell  has  produced  the 
reasons  which  led  him  to  suppose  the  site  of  Palibothra 
to  be  the  same  with  that  of  Patna ;  Memoirs,  p. 
49 — 54.  Some  of  the  objections  which  might  be  made 
to  this  supposition  he  has  foreseen,  and  endeavoured  to 
obviate ;  and  after  all  that  I  have  added  to  them, 
I  shall  not  be  surprised,  if,  in  a  geographical  dis- 
cussion, my  readers  are  disposed  to  prefer  his  decision 
to  mine. 


NOTE  XV.    SECT.  I.  p,  36. 


I  do  not  mention  a  short  inroad  into  India  by  Antio- 
chus  the  Great,  about  one  hundred  and  ninety-seven 
years  posterior  to  the  invasion  of  his  ancestor  Seleucus. 
We  know  nothing  more  of  this  transaction,  than  that 
the  Syrian  monarch,  after  finishing  the  war  he  carriecT 
on  against  the  two  revolted  provinces  of  Parthia  and 
Bactria,  entered  India,  and  concluding  a  peace  ;with 
Sophagasenus,  a  king  of  the  country,  received  from  him 
a  number  of  elephants,  and  a  sum  of  money ;  Polyb.  lib. 
x.  p.  597,  &c.  lib.  xi.  p.  651.  edit.  Casaub.  Justin,  lib. 
xv.  c.  4.  Bayer's  Hist.  Regn.  Gnecor.  Pactr.  p.  69,  &c. 


NOTE  XVI.  SECT.  I. 


A  fact  cursorily  related  by  Strabo,  and  which  has 
escaped  the  inquisitive  industry  of  M.  de  Guignes,  coin- 
cides remarkably  with  the  narrative  of  the  Chinese  wri- 
ters, and  confirms  it.  The  Greeks  he  says  were  deprived 


310  NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

of  Bactria  by  tribes  or  hordes  of  Scythian  Nomades, 
who  came  from  the  country  beyond  the  Jaxartes,  and 
are  known  by  the  names  of  Asij,  Pasiani,  Tachari,  and 
Sacarauli;  Strab.  lib.  xi.  p.  1779.  A.  The  Nomades  of 
the  ancients  were  nations  who,  like  the  Tartars,  subsist- 
ed entirely,  or  almost  entirely,  as  shepherds,  without 
agriculture. 


NOTE  XVII.  SECT.  I.  p.  39- 


As  the  distance  of  Arsinoe,  the  modern  Suez,  from 
the  Nile,  is  considerably  less  than  that  between  Berenice 
and  Coptos,  it  was  by  this  route  that  all  the  commodities 
imported  into  the  Arabian  Gulf,  might  have  been  con- 
veyed with  most  expedition  and  least  expense  into  Egypt. 
But  the  navigation  of  the  Arabian  Gulf,  which  even  in 
the  present  improved  state  of  nautical  science  is  slow  and 
difficult,  was  in  ancient  times  considered  by  the  nations 
around  it  to  be  so  extremely  perilous,  that  it  led  them  to 
give  such  names  to  several  of  its  promontories,  bays,  and 
harbours,  as  convey  a  striking  idea  of  the  impression 
which  the  dread  of  this  danger  had  made  upon  their 
imagination.  The  entry  into  the  gulf  they  called  BabeJ- 
mandcb,  the  gate  or  port  of  affliction*  To  a  harbour  not 
far  distant,  they  gave  the  name  of  Mete,  i.  e.  Death.  A 
headland  adjacent  they  called  Gardefan,  the  Cape  of 
Burial.  Other  denominations  of  similar  import  are 
mentioned  by  the  author  to  whom  I  am  indebted  for 
this  information.  Brace's  Travels,  vol.  i.  p.  442,  &c- 
It  is  not  surprising  then,  that  the  staple  of  Indian  trade 
should  have  been  transferred  from  the  northern  extre- 
mity of  the  Arabian  Gulf  to  Berenice,  as  by  this 
change  a  dangerous  navigation  was  greatly  shortened. 
This  seems  to  have  been  the  chief  reason  that  induced 
Ptolemv  to  establish  *Vo  nort  of  communication  witb 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  3 1 1 

India  at  Berenice,  as  there  were  other  harbours  on  the 
Arabian  Gulf  which  were  considerably  nearer  than  it 
to  the  Nile.  At  a  later  period,  after  the  ruin  of  Cop- 
tos  by  the  emperor  Dioclesian,  we  are  informed .  by 
Abulfeda,  Descript.  Egypt,  edit.  Michaelis,  p.  77,  that 
Indian  commodities  were  conveyed  from  the  Red  Sea 
to  the  Nile,  by  the  shortest  route,  viz.  from  Cosseir, 
probably  the  Philoteras  Portus  of  Ptolemy,  to  Cous,  the 
Vicus  Apollinis,  a  journey  of  four  days.  The  same 
account  of  the  distance  was  given  by  the  natives  to  Dr. 
Pococke,  Travels,  i.  p.  87.  In  consequence  of  this, 
Cous,  from  a  small  village,  became  the  city  in  upper 
Egypt  next  in  magnitude  to  Fostat,  or  Old  Cairo.  la 
process  of  time,  from  causes  which  I  cannot  explain, 
the  trade  from  the  Red  Sea  by  Cosseir  removed  to  Kene, 
farther  down  the  river  than  Cous,  Abulf.  p.  13.  77. 
D'Anville  Egypte,  196 — 200.  In  modern  times,  all 
the  commodities  of  India,  imported  into  Egypt,  are 
either  brought  by  sea  from  Gidda  td  Suez,  and  thence 
carried  on  camels  to  Cairo,  or  are  conveyed  by  land- 
carriage  by  the  caravan  returning  from  the  pilgrimage 
to  Mecca,  Niebuhr  Voyage,  torn.  i.  p.  224.  Volney, 
i.  188,  &c.  This,  as  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  trace  it, 
is  a  complete  account  of  all  the  different  routes  by 
which  the  productions  of  the  east  have  been  conveyed 
to  the  Nile,  from  the  first  opening  of  that  communica- 
tion. It  is  singular  that  P.  Sicard,  Mem.  des  Missions 
dans  le  Levant,  torn.  ii.  p.  157,  and  some  other  res- 
pectable writers,  should  suppose  Cosseir  to  be  the 
Berenice  founded  by  Ptolemy,  although  Ptolemy  has 
laid  down  its  latitude  at  23  deg.  50  min.,  and  Strabo 
has  described  it  as  nearly  under  the  same  parallel  with 
that  of  Syene,  lib.  ii.  p.  195,  D.  In  consequence  of 
this  mistake,  Pliny's  computation  of  the  distance  between 
Berenice  and  Goptos,  at  two  hundred  and  fifty- eight 
miles,  has  been  deemed  erroneous.  Pococke,  p.  87. 
But  as  Pliny  not  only  mentions  the  total  distance,  but 
names  the  different  stations  in  the  journey,  and  specifier. 


,312  N£>TES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS: 

the  number  of  miles  between  each  ;  and  as  the  Itinerary 
of  Antonius  coincides  exactly  with  his  account,  D'An- 
ville  Egypte,  p.  21,  there  is  no  reason  to  call  in  question 
the  accuracy  of  it. 


NOTE  XVIII.  SECT.  I.  p.  41. 


Major  Rennell  is  of  opinion,  "  that  under  the  Pto- 
lemies, the  Egyptians  extended  their  navigation  to  the 
extreme  point  of  the  Indian  continent,  and  even  sail- 
ed up  the  Ganges  to  Palibothra,"  on  the  same  site  (ac- 
cording to  him)  with  the  modern  Patna.  Introd.  p. 
xxxvi.  But  had  it  been  usual  to  sail  up  the  Ganges 
as  high  as  Patna,  the  interior  parts  of  India  must 
have  been  better  known  to  the  ancients  than  they  ever 
were,  and  they  would  not  have  continued  to  derive 
their  information  concerning  them  from  Megasthenes 
alone.  Strabo  begins  his  description  of  India  in  a 
very  remarkable  manner.  He  requests  his  readers  to 
peruse  with  indulgence  the  account  which  he  gives 
of  it,  as  it  was  a  country  very  remote,  and  few  per- 
sons had  visited  it ;  and  of  these,  many  having  seen 
only  a  small  part  of  the  country,  related  things 
either  from  hearsay,  or,  at  the  best,  what  they  had 
hastily  remarked  while  they  passed  through  it  in  the 
course  of  military  service,  or  on  a  journey.  Strabo, 
lib.  xv.  p.  1005.  B.  He  takes  notice  that  few  of 
the  traders  from  the  Arabian  Gulf  ever  reached  the 
Ganges.  Ibid.  1O06.  C.  He  asserts  that  the  Gan- 
ges enters  the  sea  by  one  mouth,  Ibid.  1011.  C;  an 
error  into  which  he  could  not  have  fallen  if  the  navi- 
gation of  that  river  had  been  common  in  his  time. 
He  mentions  indeed  the  sailing  up  the  Ganges,  Ibid. 
101O,  but  it  is  cursorily  in  a  single  sentence  ;  whereas, 
if  such  a  considerable  inland  voyage  of  above  fourhun- 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  313 

dred  miles  through  u  populous  and  rich  country,  had 
been  customary,  or  even,  if  it  had  ever  been  performed 
by  the  Roman,  or  Greek,  or  Egyptian  traders,  it  must 
have  merited  a  particular  description,  and  must  have 
been  mentioned  by  Pliny  and  other  writers,  as  there 
was  nothing  similar  to  it  in  the  practice  of  navigation 
among  the  ancients.  It  is  observed  by  Arrian, 
(or  whoever  is  the  author  of  the  Periplus  Maris  Ery- 
thraei,)  that  previous  to  the  discovery  of  a  new  route 
to  India,  which  shall  be  mentioned  afterwards,  the  com- 
merce with  that  country  was  carried  on  in  small  v< 
which  sailed  round  every  bay,  p.  32.  Ap.  Huds. 
Geogr.  Min.  Vessels  of  such  light  construction,  and 
which  followed  this  mode  of  sailing  were  ill  fitted  fora 
voyage  so  distant  as  that  round  cape  Comorin,  and  up 
the  bay  of  Bengal,  to  Patr.a.  It  is  not  improbable, 
that  the  merchants  whom  Strabo  mentions  as  having 
reached  the  Ganges,  may  have  travelled  thither  by  land, 
either  from  the  countries  towards  the  mouth  of  the  In- 
dus, or  from  some  part  of  the  Malabar  coast,  and  that 
the  navigation  up  the  Ganges,  of  which  he  casually 
takes  notice,  was  performed  by  the  natives  in  vessels  of 
the  country.  This  opinion  derives  some  confirmation 
from  his  remarks  upon  the  bad  structure  of  the  vessels 
which  frequented  that  part  of  the  Indian  ocean.  From 
his  description  of  them,  p.  1012.  C.  it  is  evident  that 
they  were  vessels  of  the  country. 


NOTE,  XIX.  SECT.  I.  p.  43. 

The  erroneous  ideas  of  many  intelligent  writers  of 
antiquity  with  respect  to  the  Caspian  sea,  though  well 
known  to  every  man  of  letters,  are  so  remarkable,  and 
afford  such  a  striking  example  of  the  imperfection  of 
their  geographical  knowledge,  that  a  more  full  account 
2  T 


-314  NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

of  them  may    not    only   be   acceptable    to   some  of  my 
readers,  but  in  endeavouring  to  trace  the  various  routes 
by  which  the   commodities  of   the  East  were  conveyed 
to  the  nations  of   Europe,  it  becomes  necessary  to  enter 
into    some   detail    concerning  their   various  sentiments 
with  respect  to  this  matter.      1.   According  to    Strabo, 
the  Caspian  is  a  bay,  that  communicates  with   the  great 
Northern  ocean,  from  which  it  issues  at  first,  by  a  nar- 
row strait,  and    then    expands  into    a  sea  extending  in 
breadth   five  hundred  stadia,  lib.  xi.  p.  773.  A.      With 
him  Pomponius  Mela  agrees,  and  describes  the  strait  by 
•which  the  Caspian  is  connected  with  the  ocean,  as  of  con- 
siderable length,  and  so  narrow  that  it  had  the   appear- 
ance of  a  river,  lib.  iii.  c.  5.   edit.      Pliny  likewise  gives 
a  similar  description  of  it,  Nat.  Hist.  lib.  vi.  c.  13.     In 
the  age  of  Justinian  this  opinion  concerning  the  commu- 
nication of  the  Caspian  sea  with  the  ocean  was  still  pre- 
valent; Cosm.  Indicopl.      Topog.  Christ,  lib.  ii.  p.  138. 
C.      2.   Some  early  writers,  by  a  mistake  still  more  sin- 
gular, have   supposed   the    Caspian  sea  to  be  connected 
with  the  Euxine.      Quintus  Curtius,  whose  ignorance  of 
geography  is  notorious,  has  adopted  this  error,  lib.   vii. 
e.  7.   edit.     3.   Arrian,  though  a  much  more  judicious 
writer,  and   who,  by  residing  for  some  time  in  the  Ro- 
man province  of  Cappadocia,  of  which  he  was  governor, 
might   have   obtained   more    accurate  information,    de- 
clares in  one  place,   the  origin  of  the  Caspian  sea  to  be 
still  unknown,  and  it  is  doubtful  whether  it  was  connect- 
ed with  the    Euxine,   or  with    the   great  Eastern  ocean 
which    surrounds    India  ;   lib.   vii.   c.    16.      In  another 
place  he  asserts,  that  there  was  a  communication  between 
the   Caspian    and    the    Eastern   ocean  ;    lib.    v.    c.   26. 
These  errors  appear   more  extraordinary,  as   a  just  de- 
scription   had  been  given  of  the  Caspian  by   Herodotus, 
near  fire   hundred  years  before  the  age  of  Strabo.  u  The 
Caspian   says   (says    he)  is  a  sea  by  itself  unconnected 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  315 

with  any  other.  Its  length  is  as  much  as  a  vessel  with 
oars  can  sail  in  fifteen  days,  its  greatest  breadth  as 
much  as  it  can  sail  in  eight  days ;"  lib.  J.  c.  203.  Aris- 
totle describes  it  in  the  same  manner,  and  with  his  usual 
precision  contends  that  it  ought  to  be  called  a  great  lake, 
not  a  sea;  Meteoroiog.  lib.  ii.  Diodorus  Siculus  con- 
curs with  them  in  opinion,  vol.  ii.  lib.  xviii.  p.  261. 
None  of  those  authors  determine  whether  the  greatest 
length  of  the  Caspian  was  from  north  to  south,  or  from, 
east  to  west.  In  the  ancient  maps  which  illustrate  the 
geography  of  Ptolemy,  it  is  delineated,  as  if  its  greatest 
length  extended  from  east  to  west.  In  modern  times 
the  first  information  concerning  the  true  form  of  the 
Caspian  which  the  people  of  Europe  received,  was  given, 
by  Anthony  Jenkinson,  an  English  merchant,  who  with 
a  caravan  from  Russia  travelled  along  a  considerable 
part  of  its  coast  in  the  year  1558  :  Hakluyt.  Collect,  vol. 
i.  p.  334.  The  accuracy  of  Jenkinson's  description  was 
confirmed  by  an  actual  survey  of  that  sea  made  by  or- 
der of  Peter  the  Great,  A.  D.  1718  ;  and  it  is  now  ascer- 
tained not  only  that  the  Caspian  is  unconnected  with 
any  other  sea,  but  that  its  lenjrth  from  north  to  south 
is  considerably  more  than  its  greatest  breadth  from  east 
to  west.  The  length  of  the  Caspian  from  north  to 
south  is  about  six  hundred  and  eighty  miles,  and  in  no 
part  more  than  two  hundred  and  sixty  miles  in  breadth 
from  east  to  west,  Coxe's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  257.  The 
proportional  difference  of  its  length  and  breadth  accords 
nearly  with  that  mentioned  by  Herodotus.  From  this 
detail  however,  we  learn  how  the  ill-founded  ideas  con- 
cerning it,  which  were  generally  adopted,  gave  rise  to 
various  wild  schemes  of  conveying  Indian  commodities 
to  Europe  by  means  of  its  supposed  communication  with 
the  Euxine  sea,  or  with  the  northern  ocean.  It  is  an 
additional  proof  of  the  attention  of  Alexander  the  Great 


316  NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

to  every  thing  conducive  to  the  improvement  of  com* 
merce,  that  a  short  time  before  his  death  he  gave  direc^ 
tions  to  fit  out  a  squadron  in  the  Caspian,  in  order  to 
survey  that  sea,  and  to  discover  whether  it  was  connect- 
ed either  with  the  Euxine  or  Indian  ocean ;  Arrian> 
lib.  vii.  c.  16. 


NOTE  XX.  SECT.  I.  53. 


From  this  curious  detail,  we  learn  how  imperfect 
ancient  navigation  was,  even  in  its  most  improved  state. 
The  voyage  from  Berenice  to  Ocelis  could  not  have 
taken  thirty  days/  if  any  other  course  had  been  held 
than  that  of  servilely  following  the  windings  of  the  coast. 
The  voyage  from  Ocelis  to  Musiris,  would  be  (accord- 
ing to  major  Rennell)  fifteen  days'  run  for  an  Europe- 
an ship  in  the  modern  style  of  navigation,  being  about 
seventeen  hundred  and  fifty  marine  miles,  on  a  straight 
course ;  Introd.  p.  xxxvii.  It  is  remarkable,  that 
though  the  Periplus  Maris  Erythrsei  was  written  after 
the  voyage  of  Hippalus,  the  chief  object  of  the  author 
of  it  is  to  describe  the  ancient  course  along  the  coasts  of 
Arabia  and  Persia,  to  the  mouth  of  the  Indus,  and  from 
thence  down  the  western  shore  of  the  continent  to  Mu- 
siris. I  can  account  for  this  only  by  supposing,  that 
from  the  unwillingness  of  mankind  to  abandon  old  ha- 
bits, the  greater  part  of  the  traders  from  Berenice  still 
continued  to  follow  that  route  to  which  they  were  ac- 
customed. To  go  from  Alexandria  to  Musiris,  requir- 
ed (according  to  Pliny)  ninety-four  days.  In  the  year 
1788,  the  Bodclam,  a  ship  belonging  to  the  English 
East  India  company,  of  a  thousand  tons  burden,  took 
only  fourteen  days  more  to  complete  her  voyage  from 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS,  317 

Portsmouth  to   Madras.      Such    are    the  improvements 
which  have  been  made  in  navigation. 


NOTE  XXI.  SECT.  II.  p.   54. 

It  was  the  opinion  of  Plato,  that  in  a  well  regulated 
commonwealth  the  citizens  should  not  engage  in  com- 
merce, nor  the  state  aim  at  obtaining  maritime  power. 
Commerce,  he  contends,  would  corrupt  the  purity  of 
their  morals,  and  by  entering  into  the  sea- service,  they 
would  be  accustomed  to  find  pretexts  for  justifying  con- 
duct so  inconsistent  with  what  was  manly  and  becoming, 
as  would  gradually  relax  the  strictness  of  military  disci- 
pline. It  had  been  better  for  the  Athenians,  he  asserts, 
to  have  continued  to  send  annually  the  sons  of  seven  of 
their  principal  citizens  to  be  devoured  by  the  Minotaur, 
than  to  have  changed  their  ancient  manners,  and  to 
have  become  a  maritime  power.  In  that  perfect  repub- 
lic, of  which  he  delineates  the  form,  he  ordains  that  the 
capital  should  be  situated  at  least  ten  miles  from  the 
sea  ;  De  Legibus,  lib.  iv.  ab  initio.  These  ideas  of 
Plato  were  adopted  by  other  philosophers.  Aristotle 
enters  into  a  formal  discussion  of  the  question,  Whe- 
a  state  rightly  constituted  should  be  commercial  or  not? 
and  though  abundantly  disposed  to  espouse  sentiments 
opposite  to  those  of  Plato,  he  does  not  venture  to  de- 
cide explicitly  with  respect  to  it ;  De  Repub.  lib.  viL 
c.  6.  In  ages  when  such  opinions  prevail,  little  inform- 
ation concerning  commerce  can  be  expected. 


NOTE   XXII.  SECT.   II.  p.  58. 

Pliny,  lib.  ix.  c.  35.  Principium  ergo  culmenque 
omnium  rerum  prsetij  Margaritse  tenent.  In  lib.  xxxvii. 
c.  4.  he  affirms,  Maximum  in  rebus  humanis  prsetium, 


318  NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS 

non  solum  inter  gemmas,  habet  Adamas.  These  two 
passages  stand  in  such  direct  contradiction  to  one  ano- 
ther, that  it  is  impossible  to  reconcile  them,  or  to  de- 
termine which  is  the  most  conformable  to  truth.  I 
have  adhered  to  the  former,  because  we  have  many  in- 
stances of  the  exorbitant  price  of  pearls,  but  none,  as 
far  as  I  know,  of  diamonds  having  been  purchased  at 
a  rate  so  high.  In  this  opinion  I  am  confirmed  by  a 
passage  in  Pliny,  lib.  xix.  c.  i.  having  mentioned  the 
exorbitant  price  of  asbestos,  he  says,  l*  aequat  prsetia 
exccllentium  Margaritarum  ;"  which  implies  that  he 
considered  pearls  to  be  of  higher  price  than  any  other 
commodity. 


NOTE  XXIII.  SECT.   II.  p.  58. 


Pliny  has  devoted  two  entire  books  of  his  Natural 
History,  lib.  xii.  and  xiii.  to  the  enumeration  and  de- 
scription of  the  spices,  aromatics,  ointments,  and  per- 
fumes, the  use  of  which  luxury  had  introduced  among 
his  cduntrymen.  As  many  of  these  were  the  produc- 
tions of  India,  or  of  the  countries  beyond  it,  and  as  the 
trade  with  the  east  was  carried  on  to  a  great  extent  in  the 
age  of  Pliny,  we  may  form  some  idea  of  the  immense 
demand  for  them,  from  the  high  price  at  which  they 
continued  to  be  sold  in  Rome.  To  compare  the  prices 
of  the  same  commodities  in  ancient  Rome,  with  those 
now  paid  in  our  own  country,  is  not  a  gratification  o£ 
curiosity  merely,  but  affords  a  standard  by  which  we 
may  estimate  the  different  degree  of  success  with  which 
the  Indian  trade  has  been  conducted  in  ancient  and  mo- 
dern times.  Many  remarkable  passages  in  ancient  au- 
thors, concerning  the  extravagant  price  of  precious 
stones  and  pearls  among  the  Romans,  as  well  as  the 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  319 

general  use  of  them  by  persons  of  all  ranks,  are  collected 
by  Meursius  de  Lux.  Romanorum,  cap.  5.  and  by  Sta- 
nislaus Robierzyckius,  in  his  treatise  on  the  same  sub- 
ject, lib.  ii.  c.  1  The  English  reader  will  receive  suf- 
fici'-nt  information  from  Dr.  Arbuthnot,  in  his  valuable 
T;.!>ies  of  ancient  coins,  weights  and  measures,  p.  172, 
fee. 


NOTE  XXIV.   SECT.  H.  p.  61. 


M.  MAHUDEL,  in  a  memoir  read  in  the  academy  of 
inscriptions  and  belles  lettrt-s  in  the  year  1719,  has  col- 
lected the  various  opinions  of  the  ancients  concerning 
the  nature  aud  origin  of  silk,  which  tend  all  to  prove 
their  ignorance  with  regard  to  it.  Since  the  publica- 
tion of  M.  Mahudel's  memoir,  P.  du  Halde  has  describ- 
ed a  species  of  silk,  of  which  I  believe  he  communicat- 
ed the  first  notice  to  the  moderns.  "  This  is  produced 
by  small  insects  nearly  resembling  snails.  They  do  not 
form  cocoons  either  round  or  oval  like  the  silk  worm, 
but  spin  very  long  threads,  which  fasten  themselves  to 
trees  and  bushes  as  they  are  driven  by  the  wind.  These 
are  gathered  and  wrought  into  silk  stuffs,  coarser  than 
those  produced  by  domestic  silk  worms.  The  insects 
which  produce  this  coarse  silk  are  wild."  Description 
de  1'Empire  de  la  Chine,  torn.  ii.  folio,  p.  207.  This 
nearly  resembles  Virgil's  description, 

Velleraque  ut  foliis  dcpcctant  tenuia  Seres. 

Georg.II.  121. 

An  attentive  reader  of  Virgil  will  find,  that,  besides  all 
the  other  qualities  of  a  great  descriptive  poet,  he  pos- 
sessed an  extensive  knowledge  of  natural  history.  The 


320  NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS, 

nature  and  productions  of  the  wild  silk- worms  are  illus- 
trated at  greater  length  in  the  large  collection  of  Me- 
moires  concernant  1'Histoire,  les  Sciences,  les  Arts.  &c. 
des  Chinois,  torn.  ii.  p.  575,  &c.  and  by  Pere  de  Mailla, 
in  his  voluminous  History  of  China,  torn.  xiii.  p.  434. 
It  is  a  singular  circumstance  in  the  history  of  silk,  that 
on  account  of  its  being  an  excretion  of  a  worm,  the  Ma- 
homedans  consider  it  as  an  unclean  dress  ;  and  it  has 
been  decided,  with  the  unanimous  assent  of  all  the  doc- 
tors, that  a  person  wearing  a  garment  made  entirely  of 
silk,  cannot  lawfully  offer  up  the  daily  prayers  enjoined 
by  the  Koran,  Herbal.  Bibl.  Orient,  artic.  Harir. 


NOTE  XXV.  SECT.  II.  p.  61. 

If  the  use  of  the  cotton  manufactures  of  India  had 
been  common  among  the  Romans,  the  various  kinds  of 
them  would  have  been  enumerated  in  the  Law  de  Pub- 
licanis  et  Vectigalibus,  in  the  same  manner  as  the  differ- 
ent kinds  of  spices  and  precious  stones.  Such  a  speci- 
fication would  have  been  equally  necessary  for  the  di- 
rection both  of  the  merchant  and  the  tax-gatherer. 


NOTE  XXVI.  SECT.  II.  p.  62. 

This  part  of  Arrian's  Periplus  has  been  examined 
with  great  accuracy  and  learning  by  lieutenant  Wii- 
ford  ;  and  from  his  investigation  it  is  evident,  that  the 
Plithana  of  Arrian  is  the  modern  Pultanah,  on  the 
southern  banks  of  the  river  Godavery,  two  hundred 
and  seventeen  British  miles  south  from  Baroach  ;  that 
the  position  of  Tagara  is  the  same  with  that  of  the  mo- 
dern Dowlatabad,  and  the  high  grounds  across  which 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  32 1 

the  goods  were  conveyed  to  Baroach,  are  the  Ballagaut 
mountains.  The  bearings  and  distances  of  these  dif- 
ferent places,  as  specified  by  Arrian,  afford  an  additional 
proof  (were  that  necessary)  of  the  exact  information 
which  he  had  received  concerning  this  district  of  India; 
Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  i.  p.  369,  &c. 


NOTE  XXVII.    SECT.  II.  p.  69. 

Strabo  acknowledges  his  neglect  of  the  improve- 
ments in  geography  which  Hipparchus  had  deduced 
from  astronomical  observations,  and  justifies  it  by  one 
of  those  logical  subtleties  which  the  ancients  were  apt 
to  introduce  into  all  their  writings.  "  A  geographer," 
says  he,  (i.  e.  a  describer  of  the  earth,)  "  is  to  pay  no 
attention  to  what  is  out  of  the  earth;  nor  will  men 
engaged  in  conducting  the  afiairs  of  that  part  of  the 
earth  which  is  inhabited,  deem  the  distinction  and 
divisions  of  Hipparchus  worthy  of  notice."  Lib.  ii. 
194.  C. 


NOTE  XXVIII.  SECT.  II.  p.  TO. 


What  an  high  opinion  the  ancients  had  of  Ptolemy 
we  learn  from  Agathemerus,  who  flourished  not  long 
after  him.  "  Ptolemy,"  says  he,  "  who  reduced  geo- 
graphy into  a  regular  system,  treats  of  every  thing 
relating  to  it,  not  carelessly,  or  merely  according 
to  the  ideas  of  his  own,  but  attending  to  what  had 
been  delivered  by  more  ancient  authors,  he  adopted 
from  them  whatever  he  found  consonant  to  truth." 
Epitome  Geogr.  lib.  i.  c.  6.  edit.  Hudson.  From  the 
same  admiration  of  his  works,  Agathodsemon,  an  artist 
of  Alexandria,  prepared  a  series  of  maps  for  the  illus- 

2  u 


322  NOTES  AND4LLUSTRATIONS(. 

tration  of  it,  in  which  the  position  of  all  the  places  men- 
tioned by  Ptolemy,  with  their  longitude  and  latitude,  is 
laid  down  precisely  according  to  his  ideas.  Fabric. 
Biblioth.  Graec.  iii,  412. 


NOTE  XXIX.  SECT.  II.  p.  71. 

As  these  public  surveys  and  itineraries  furnished  the 
ancient  geographers  with  the  best  information  concern- 
ing the  position  and  distances  of  many  places,  it  may 
be  proper  to  point  out  the  manner  in  which  they  were 
completed  by  the  Romans.  The  idea  of  a  general 
survey  of  the  whole  empire  was  first  formed  by  Julius 
Caesar,  and,  having  been  begun  by  him  under  authority 
of  a  decree  of  the  senate,  was  finished  by  Augustus. 
As  Rome  was  still  far  inferior  to  Greece  in  science, 
the  execution  of  this  great  undertaking  was  commit- 
ted to  three  Greeks,  men  of  great  abilities,  and  skill- 
ed in  every  part  of  philosophy.  The  survey  of  the 
eastern  divison  of  the  empire  was  finished  by  Zeno- 
doxus  in  fourteen  years  five  months  and  nine  days. 
That  of  the  northern  division  was  finished  by  Theo- 
clorus  in  twenty  years  eight  months  and  ten  days. 
The  southern  division  was  finished  in  twenty-five 
years  one  month  and  ten  days.  .iEthici  Cosmogra- 
phia  apud  Geographos,  editos  a  Hen.  Stephano, 
15Tr.  p.  107.  This  undertaking  was  worthy  of  those 
illustrious  persons  who  planned  it,  and  suited  to  the 
magnificence  of  a  great  people.  Besides  this  gene- 
ral survey,  every  new  war  produced  a  new  delinea- 
tion and  measurement  of  the  countries  which  were 
the  seat  of  it.  We  may  conclude  from  Vegetius, 
Jnstit.  Rei  Militaris,  lib.  iii.  c.  6.  that  every  gover- 
nor of  a  Roman  province  was  furnished  with  a  de- 
scription of  it;  in  which  were  specified  the  distance  of 
places  in  miles,  the  nature  of  the  roads,  the  by-roads, 
th,e  short  cuts,  the  mountains,  the  rivers,  &c.  all  these. 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  523 

iays  he,  were  not  only  described  in  words,  but  were  dej 
lineated  in  a  map,  that,  in  deliberating  concerning  his 
military  movements,  the  eyes  of  a  general  might  aid  the 
decisions  of  his  mind. 


NOTE  XXX.  SECT.  II.  p.  71. 

The  consequence  of  this  mistake  is  remarkable-  Pto- 
lemy, lib.  vii.  c.  i.,  computes  the  latitude  of  Barrygaza, 
or  Baroach,  to  be  17  deg.  2O  min.  and  that  of  Cory,  or 
cape  Comorin,  to  be  13  deg.  20  min.  which  is  the  dif- 
ference of  four  degrees  precisely ;  whereas  the  real 
difference  between  these  two  places  is  nearly  fourteen 
degrees. 


NOTE  XXXI.   SEC*.   II.  p.  72. 

Ramusio,  the  publisher  of  the  most  ancient  and  per- 
haps the  most  valuable  collection  of  voyages,  is  the  first 
person,  as  far  as  I  know,  who  takes  cotice  of  this 
strange  error  of  Ptolemy  ;  Viaggi,  vol.  i.  p.  181.  He 
justly  observes,  that  the  author  of  the  circumnavigation 
of  the  Erythrssan  sea  had  been  more  accurate,  and  had 
described  the  peninsula  of  India,  as  extending  from 
north  to  south;  Peripl.  p.  24.  29. 


NOTE  XXXII.  SECT;  II.  p,  75. 

This  error  of  Ptolemy  justly  merits  the  name  p£ 
enormous,  which  I  have  given  to  it ;  and  it  will  appear 
more  surprising  when  we  recollect,  that  he  must  have 
been  acquainted,  not  only  with  what  Herodotus  relates 
concerning  the  circumnavigation  of  Africa  by  order  of 
one  of  the  Egyptian  kings,  lib.  iv.  c.  4r  but  with  ihe 
opinion  of  Eratosthenes,  who  held  that  the  great  ex- 


324  NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS; 

tent  of  the  Atlantic  ocean  was  the  only  thing  which 
prevented  a  communication  between  Europe  and  India 
by  sea;  Strab.  Geogr.  lib.  i.  p.  113.  A.  This  error, 
however,  must  not  be  imputed  wholly  to  Ptolemy.  Hip- 
parchus,  whom  we  may  consider  as  his  guide,  had 
taught  that  the  earth  is  not  surrounded  by  one  continu- 
ous ocean,  but  that  it  is  separated  by  different  isthmus- 
es, which  divide  it  into  several  large  basins;  Strab. 
lib.  i.  p«  11*  B*  Ptolemy,  having  adopted  this  opinion, 
was  induced  to  maintain  that  an  unknown  country  ex- 
tended from  Cattigarra  to  Prassum  on  the  south-east 
coast  of  Africa ;  Geogr.  lib.  vii.  c.  3.  and  5.  As 
Ptolemy's  system  of  geography  was  universally  receiv- 
ed, this  error  spread  along  with  it.  In  conformity  to 
it  the  Arabian  geogropher  Edrissi,  who  wrote  in  the 
twelfth  century,  taught  that  a  continued  tract  of  land 
stretched  eastward  from  Sofala  on  the  African  coast, 
until  it  united  with  some  part  of  the  Indian  continent ; 
D'Anville,  Antiq.  p.  187.  Annexed  to  the  first  volume 
of  Gesta  Dei  per  Francos,  there  is  an  ancient  and 
very  rude  map  of  the  habitable  globe,  delineated  ac- 
cording to  the  idea  of  Ptolemy.  M.  Gossellin,  in  his 
map  entitled  Ptolemsei  Systema  Geographicum,  has  ex- 
hibited this  imaginary  tract  of  land  which  Ptolemy  sup- 
poses to  have  connected  Africa  with  Asia;  Geographic 
des  Grecs  analysee. 


NOTE  XXXIII.  SECT.  II.  p.  76. 


In  this  part  of  the  Disquisition,  as  well  as  in  the  map> 
prepared  for  illustrating  it,  the  Geographical  ideas  of  M. 
D'Anville,  to  which  major  Rennell  has  given  the  sanction 
of  his  approbation,  Introd.  p.  xxxix.  have  been  generally 
adopted.  But  M.  Gossellin  has  lately  published,  "The 
Geography  of  the  Greeks  analized;  or>  the  Systems 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  S25 

of  Eratosthenes,  Strabo,  and  Ptolemy,  compared  with 
each  other,  and  with  the  knowledge  which  the  mo- 
derns have  acquired ;"  a  learned  and  ingenious  work,  in 
which  he  differs  from  his  countrymen  with  respect  to 
many  of  his  determinations.  According  to  M.  Gossel- 
lin,  the  Magnum  Promontorium,  which  M.  D'Anville 
concludes  to  be  cape  Romania,  at  the  southern  extremity 
of  the  peninsula  of  Malacca,  is  the  point  of  Bragu,  at 
the  mouth  of  the  great  river  Ava;  near  to  which  he 
places  Zaba,  supposed  by  M.  D'Anville,  and  by  Barros, 
Decad.  ii.  liv.  vi.  c.  1.  to  be  situated  on  the  strait  of 
Sincapura  or  Malacca.  The  Magnus  Sinus  of  Ptolemy 
he  holds  to  be  the  same  with  the  gulf  of  Martaban,  not 
the  gulf  of  Siam,  according  to  M.  D'Anville's  de- 
cision. The  position  of  Cattigara,  as  he  endeavours  to 
prove,  corresponds  to  that  of  Mergui,  a  considerable 
port  on  the  west  coast  of  the  kingdom  of  Siam,  and  that 
Thina?,  or  Sinse  Metropolis,  which  M.  D'Anville  re- 
moves as  far  as  Sin-hoa,  in  the  kingdom  of  Cochin, 
China,  is  situated  on  the  same  river  with  Mergui,  and 
now  bears  the  name  of  Tana-serim.  The  Ibadij  Insula 
of  Ptolemy,  which  M.  D'Anville  determines  to  be 
Sumatra,  he  contends,  is  one  of  that  cluster  of  small 
isles  which  lie  off  this  part  of  the  coast  of  Siam ;  p. 
137 — 148.  According  to  M.  Gossellin's  system,  the 
ancients  never  sailed  through  the  straits  of  Malacca, 
had  no  knowledge  of  the  island  of  Sumatra,  and  were 
altogether  unacquainted  with  the  Eastern  ocean.  If  to 
any  of  my  readers  these  opinions  appear  to  be  well 
founded,  the  navigation  and  commerce  of  the  ancients 
in  India,  must  be  circumscribed  within  limits  still  more 
confined  than  those  which  I  have  allotted  to  them.  From 
the  Ayeen  Akbery,  vol.  ii.  p.  7.  we  learn  that  Cheen 
was  an  ancient  name  of  the  kingdom  of  Pegu ;  as  that 
country  borders  upon  Ava,  where  M.  Gossellin  places 
the  Great  Promontory,  this  near  resemblance  of  names 
may  appear,  perhaps,  to  confirm  his  opinion  that  Sinse 


326  NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Metropolis  was  situated  on  this   coast,  and  not  so  far 
east  as  M.  D'Anville  has  placed  it. 

As  Ptolemy's  geography  of  this  eastern  division  of 
Asia  is  more  erroneous,  obscure,  and  contradictory 
than  in  any  other  part  of  his  work,  and  as  all  the  manu- 
scripts of  it,  both  Greek  and  Latin,  are  remarkably  in- 
correct in  the  two  chapters  which  contain  the  description 
of  the  countries  beyond  the  Ganges,  M.  D'Anvilie,  in. 
his  Memoir  concerning  the  limits  of  the  world  known 
to  the  ancients  beyond  the  Ganges,  has  admitted  into  it 
a  larger  portion  of  conjecture  than  we  find  in  the  other 
Researches  of  that  cautious  geographer.  He  likewise 
builds  more  than  usual  upon  the  resemblances  between 
the  ancient  and  modern  names  of  places,  though  at  all 
times  he  discovers  a  propensity,  perhaps  too  great,  to 
trace  these,  and  to  rest  upon  them.  These  resem- 
blances are  often,  indeed,  very  striking,  and  have  led 
him  to  many  happy  discoveries.  But  in  perusing  his 
works,  it  is  impossible,  I  should  think,  not  to  perceive 
that  some  which  he  mentions  are  far  fetched  and  fanciful. 
Whenever  I  follow  him,  I  have  adopted  only  such  con- 
clusions as  seem  to  be  established  with  his  accustomed 
accuracy. 


NOTE  XXXIV.  SECT.  II.  p.  85. 


The  author  of  the  circumnavigation  of  the  Erythraean 
sea  has  marked  the  distances  of  many  of  the  places 
which  he  mentions,  with  such  accuracy  as  renders  it  a 
nearer  approach,  than  is  to  be  found  in  any  writer  of 
antiquity,  to  a  complete  survey  of  the  coast  from  Myos- 
hormus,  on  the  west  side  of  the  Arabian  gulf,  along 
the  shores  of  Ethiopia,  Arabia,  Persia,  and  Caramania, 
to  the  mouth  of  the  Indus,  and  thence  down  the  west 
coast  of  the  Indian  peninsula  to  Musiris  and  Baractv 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  327 

This  adds  to  the  value  of  this  short  treatise,  which  in 
every  other  respect,  possesses  great  merit.  It  may  be 
considered  as  a  remarkable  proof  of  the  extent  and  ac- 
curacy of  this  author's  intelligence  concerning  India, 
that  he  is  th/e  only  ancient  writer  who  appears  in  any 
degree  to  have  been  acquainted  with  the  great  division 
of  the  country  which  still  subsists,  viz.  Indostan  Pro- 
per comprehending  the  northern  provinces  of  the  penin- 
sula, and  the  Deccan,  comprehending  the  southern 
provinces.  "  From  Barygaza  (says  he)  the  continent 
stretches  to  the  south;  hence  that  district  is  called 
Pachinabades,  for,  in  the  language  of  the  country, 
the  south  is  called  Dachanos  ;"  Peripl.  p.  29.  As  the 
Greeks  and  Romans,  when  they  adopt  any  foreign 
name,  always  gave  it  a  termination  peculiar  to  their 
own  language,  which  the  grammatical  structure  of  both 
tongues  rendered,  in  some  degree,  necessary,  it  is 
evident  that  Dachanos  is  the  same  with  Deccan, 
which  word  has  still  the  same  signification,  and  is  still 
the  name  of  that  division  of  the  peninsula.  The 
northern  limit  of  the  Deccan  at  present  is  the  river 
Narbudda,  where  our  author  likewise  fixes  it.  Peripl, 
ibid. 


NOTE  XXXV.  SECT.  II.  p.  88, 


Though  in  deducing  the  latitudes  of  places  from 
observations  of  the  sun  or  stars,  the  ancient  astrono- 
mers neglected  several  corrections,  which  ought  to  have 
been  applied,  their  results  were  sometimes  exact  to  a 
few  minutes,  but  at  other  times  they  appear  to  have 
been  erroneous  to  the  extent  of  two  or  even  three  de- 
grees, and  may  perhaps  be  reckoned,  one  with  another, 
to  have  come  within  half  a  degree  of  the  truth.  This 
part  of  the  ancient  geography  would  therefore  have  been 
tolerably  accurate,  if  there  had  been  a  sufficient  number 


328  NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

of  such  determinations*  These  however,  were  far 
from  being  numerous,  and  appear  to  have  been 
confined  to  some  of  the  more  remarkable  places 
in  the  countries  which  surround  the  Mediterranean 
sea. 

When,  from  want  of  more  accurate  observations, 
the  latitude  was  inferred  from  the  length  of  the  longest 
or  shortest  day,  no  great  degree  of  precision  was, 
in  any  case,  to  be  expected,  and  least  of  all  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  equator.  An  error  of  a  quarter  of  an 
hour,  which,  without  some  mode  of  measuring  time 
more  accurate  than  ancient  observers  could  employ, 
was  not  easily  avoided,  might  produce,  in  such  situa- 
tions, an  error  of  four  degrees  in  the  determination  of 
the  latitude. 

With  respect  to  places  in  the  torrid  zone,  there  was 
another  course  for  determining  the  latitude.  This  was 
by  observing  the  time  of  year  when  the  sun  was  vertical 
to  a'ny  place,  or  when  bodies  that  stood  perpendi- 
cular to  the  horizon  had  no  shadow  at  noon-day ; 
the  sun's  distance  from  the  equator  at  that  time, 
which  was  known  from  the  principles  of  astronomy, 
was  equal  to  the  latitude  of  the  place.  We  have 
instances  of  the  application  of  this  method  in  the 
determination  of  the  parallels  of  Syene  and  Meroe, 
The  accuracy  which  this  method  would  admit  of, 
seems  to  be  limited  to  about  half  a  degree,  and  this 
only  on  the  supposition  that  the  observer  was  sta- 
tionary ;  for  if  he  was  travelling  from  one  place  to 
another,  and  had  not  an  opportunity  of  correcting  the 
observation  of  one  day  by  that  of  the  day  following,  he 
was  likely  to  deviate  much  more  considerably  from  the 
truth. 

With  respect  to  the  longitude  of  places,  as  eclipses 
of  the  moon  are  not  frequent,  and  could  seldom  be 
qf  use  for  determining  it,  and  only  when  there  were 
astronomers  to  observe  them  with  accuracy,  they  may 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  329 

be  left  out  of  the  account  altogether  when  we  are  ex- 
amining the  geography  of  remote  countries.  The  dif- 
ferences of  the  meridians  of  places  were  therefore 
anciently  ascertained  entirely  by  the  bearings  and 
distances  of  one  place  from  another,  and  of  conse- 
quence all  the  errors  of  reckonings,  surveys,  and  itine- 
raries fell  chiefly  upon  the  longitude,  in  the  same 
manner  as  happens  at  present  in  a  ship  which  has 
no  method  of  determining  its  longitude,  but  by  com- 
paring the  dead  reckoning  with  the  observations  of 
the  latitude ;  though  with  this  difference,  that  the 
errors,  to  which  the  most  skilful  of  the  ancient  navi- 
gators was  liable,  were  far  greater  than  what  the 
most  ignorant  ship-master  of  modern  times,  provided 
with  a  compass,  can  well  commit.  The  length  of 
the  Mediterranean  measured,  in  degrees  of  longitude, 
from  the  Pillars  of  Hercules,  to  the  bay  of  Issus,  is 
less  than  forty  degrees;  but  in  Ptolemy's  maps  it  is 
more  than  sixty,  and,  in  general,  its  longitudes,  count- 
ing from  the  meridian  of  Alexandria,  especially  to- 
ward the  east,  are  erroneous  nearly  in  the  same 
proportion.  It  appears,  indeed,  that  in  remote  seas, 
the  coasts  were  often  delineated  from  an  imperfect 
account  of  the  distances  sailed,  without  the  least  know- 
ledge of  the  bearings  or  direction  of  the  ship's  course. 
Ptolemy,  it  is  true,  used  to  make  an  allowance  of 
about  one-third  for  the  winding  of  a  ship's  course. 
Geogr.  lib.  i.  c.  12;  but  it  is  plain  that  the  appli- 
cation of  this  general  rule  could  seldom  lead  to  an 
accurate  conclusion.  Of  this  there  is  a  striking  in- 
stance in  the  form  which  that  geographer  has  given 
to  the  peninsula  of  India.  From  the  Barygazenum, 
Promontorium  to  the  place  marked  Locus  unde  sol- 
vunt  in  Chrysen  navigantes,  that  is,  from  Surat  on  the 
Malabar  coast,  to  about  Narsapour  on  the  Coroman- 
del  coast,  the  distance  measured  along  the  sea-shore 
is  nearly  the  same  with  what  it  is  in  reality ;  that  is, 
about  five  hundred  and  twenty  leagues.  But  the  mistake 


•330  NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS 

in  the  direction    is  astonishing,    for  the   Malabar   and 
Coromandel  coast,  instead  of  stretching  to  the  south, 
and    intersecting    one  another   at  cape  Comorin,    in   a 
very  acute    angle,  are   extended  hy  Ptolemy  almost  in 
the  same    straight   line  from   west  to  east,  declining  a 
little  to  the  south.     This   coast   is,  at   the  same   time, 
marked    with    several   bays   and   promontories,    nearly 
resembling,  in  their  position,  those  which  actually  exist 
on    it.      All    these    circumstances    compared   together, 
point   out   very  clea*ly  what  were  the  materials   from 
which  the   ancient    map  of  India  was  composed.    The 
ships  which   had  visited  the  coast  of  that  country,  had 
kept   an  account  of  the    time  which   they  took  to  sail 
from    one  place  to  another,  and  had  marked  as  they 
stood  along  shore,  on   what  hand   the  land   lay,  when 
they  shaped  their  course  across  a  bay,  or  doubled  a  pro- 
montory.  This  imperfect  journal,  with  an  inaccurate  ac- 
count, perhaps,  of  the  latitude  of  one  or  two  places,  was 
probably  all   the   information  concerning  the    coast  of 
India,  which   Ptolemy  was   able  to  procure.     That  he 
should  have  been  able  to  procure  no  better  information 
from  merchants  who  sailed  with  no  particular  view  of 
exploring  the  coast,  will  not  appear   wonderful,  if  we 
consider   that   even  the    celebrated  Periplus  of  Hanno 
would  not  enable  a  geographer  to  lay  down  the  coast  of 
Africa  with  more  precision,  than  Ptolemy  has  delinea- 
ted that  of  India. 


NOTE  XXXVI.  SECT.  II.  p.  97. 


The  introduction  of  the  silkworm  into  Europe,  and 
the  effects  which  this  produced,  came  under  the  view  of 
Mr.  Gibbon,  in  writing  the  history  of  the  emperor  Justi- 
nian, and  though  it  was  an  incident  of  subordinate  im- 
portance only,  amidst  the  multiplicity  of  great  transac- 
;ions  \yhich  must  have  occupied  his  attention,  he  ha;j  cst- 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  33! 

amined  this  event  with  an  accuracy,  and  related  it  with 
a  precision,  which  would  have  done  honour  to  an  author 
who  had  no  higher  object  of  research.  Vol.  iv.  p.  71, 
&c.  Nor  is  it  here  only  that  I  am  called  upon  to  as- 
cribe to  him  this  merit.  The  subject  of  my  inquiries 
has  led  me  several  times  upon  ground  which  he  had 
gone  over,  and  I  have  uniformly  received  information 
from  the  industry  and  discernment  with  which  he  has 
surveyed  it. 


NOTE  XXXVII.  SF.CT.  III.  p.  101. 


This  voyage,  together  with  the  observations  of  Abu 
Zeid  al  Hasan  of  Siraf,  was  published  by  M.  Renaudot, 
A.  D.  -1718,  under  the  title  of  a  Anciennes  Relations 
des  Indes,  et  de  la  Chine,  de  deux  Voyageurs  Mohame- 
tans,  qui  y  allerent  dans  le  Neuvieme  Siecle,  traduites 
de  Arabe,  avec  des  remarques  sur  les  principaux  en- 
droits  de  ces  Relations."  As  M.  Renaudot,  in  his  re- 
marks represents  the  literature  and  police  of  the  Chinese 
in  colours  very  different  from  those  of  the  splendid  de- 
scriptions which  a  blind  admiration  had  prompted  the 
Jesuits  to  publish,  two  zealous  missionaries  have  called 
in  question  the  authenticity  of  these  relations,  and  have 
asserted  that  the  authors  of  them  had  never  been  in 
China;  P.  Premare  Lettr.  edifiantes  et  curieuses,  torn. 
xix.  p.  420,  &c.  P.  Parennin,  ibid.  torn.  xxi.  p.  158, 
&c.  Some  doubts  concerning  their  authenticity  were 
entertained  likewise  by  several  learned  men  in  England, 
on  account  of  M.  Renaudot's  having  given  no  notice  of 
the  manuscript  which  he  translated,  but  that  he  found  it 
in  the  library  of  M.  le  Comte  de  Seignelay.  As  no 
person  had  seen  the  manuscript  since  that  time,  the 
doubts  increased  and  M.  Renaudot  was  charged  with  the 
crime  of  imposing  upon  the  public.  But  the  Colbert 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS, 

Manuscripts  having  been  deposited  in  the  king's  library, 
as  (fortunately  for   literature)  most   private  collections 
are  in  France,   M.  de  Guignes,  after  a  long  search,  dis- 
covered the  identical  manuscript  to  which  M.  Renaudot 
refers.      It    appears     to    have    been     written    in    the 
twelfth  century ;   Journal   des    S^avans,    Dec.  1764,  p« 
315,  &c.      As    I  had   not  the   French    edition  of  M. 
Renaudot's  book,  my  references  are  made  to  the  En- 
glish   translation.      The    relation    of  the  two    Arabian 
travellers  is  confirmed,  in  many  points  by  their  country- 
man Massoudi,  who  published  his  treatise  on  universal 
history,  to  which  he  gives  the  fantastical  title  of  "  Mea- 
dows of  Gold,  and  Mines  of  Jewels,"  a  hundred  and 
six  years  after  their  time.      From   him  likewise  we  re- 
ceive such  an  account  of  India  in  the  tenth  century,  as 
renders  it  evident  that  the  Arabians  had  then  acquired 
an  extensive  knowledge  of  that  country.      According  to 
his  description  the  peninsula  of  India  was  divided  into 
four  kingdoms*      The   first  was  composed  of  the  pro- 
vinces situated  on  the   Indus,  and  the  rivers  which  fall 
into  it;  the  capital  of  which  was  Moultan,     The  capi- 
tal of  the    second  kingdom  was   Canoge,  which,  from 
the  ruins  of  it  still  remaining,    appears  to  have  been  a 
very  large  city  ;    Rennell's  Memoirs,  p.   54.      In  order 
to  give  an  idea  of  its  populousness,  the  Indian  histori- 
ans assert,   that  it  contained  thirty   thousand  shops,  in 
which   betel-nut   was    sold,  and  sixty  thousand  sets  of 
musicians  and  singers,  who  paid  a   tax  to  government: 
Ferishta,   translated  by  Dow,  vol.  i.  p.  32.      The  third 
kingdom  was  Cachemire.      Massoudi,  as  far  as  I  know, 
is  the  first  author  who  mentions  this  paradise  of  India, 
of  which   he  gives  a  short  but  just  description.     The 
fourth  is  the   kingdom   of  Guzerate,  which  he    repre- 
sents as  the  greatest  and  most  powerful ;  and  he  concurs 
with  the  two  Arabian  travellers,  in  giving  the  sovereigns 
of  it  the  appellation  of  Belhara.     What  Massoudi  re- 
lates concerning  India  is  more  worthy  of  notice,  as  he 
himself  had  visited  that    country ;    Notices  et  Extraits 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  33S- 

ries  Manuscrits  de  la  Bibliotheque  du  Roi,  torn.  i.  p.  9, 

10.  Massoudi   confirms  what  the  two  Arabian  travel- 
lers relate,  concerning  the  extraordinary  progress  of  the 
Indians  in  astronomical  science.      According  to  his  ac- 
count a  temple  was  built  during  the  reign   of  Brahmin, 
the  first  monarch  of  India,    with  twelve  towers,  repre- 
senting the  twelve  signs  of  the  Zodiac  ;   and  in  which 
was   delineated,    a   view   of  all   the  stars   as   they  ap- 
pear in    the  heavens.      In   the  same   reign   was   com- 
posed the  famous  Sind  Hind,  which  seems  to  be  the 
standard  treatise  of  Indian   Astronomy;   Notices,  &c, 
|om.  i.  p.  7.   Another  Arabian  author,  who  wrote  about 
the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century,  divides  India  into 
three  parts.     The  northern  comprehending  all  the   pro- 
vinces on  the  Indus.  The  middle  extending  from  Guze- 
rate  to  the   Ganges.      The  southern  which   he  denomi- 
nates Comar,  from  cape  Comorin ;  Notices,  &c.  torn. 

11.  p.  46. 


NOTE  XXXVIII.   SECT.  III.  p.  1O3. 


The  naval  skill  of  the  Chinese  seems  not  to  have  been, 
superior  to  that  of  the  Greeks,  the  Romans,  or  Ara- 
bians. The  course  which  they  held  from  Canton  to 
Siraf,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Persian  gulf,  is  de- 
scribed by  their  own  authors.  They  kept  as  near 
as  possible  to  the  shore  until  they  reached  the  is- 
land of  Ceylon,  and  then  doubling  cape  Comorin, 
they  sailed  along  the  west  side  of  the  peninsula,  as  far 
as  the  mouth  of  the  Indus,  and  thence  steered  along 
the  coast  to  the  place  of  their  destination  ;  Mem.  de 
Literal,  torn,  xxxii,  p.  367.  Some  authors  have  con- 
tended, that  both  the  Arabians  and  Chinese  were 
well  acquainted  with  the  mariner's  compass,  and  the 
use  of  it  in  navigation ;  but  it;  ia  remarkable  that  in 


334  NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS, 

the  Arabic,  Turkish,  and  Persian  languages  there  is 
no  original  name  for  the  compass.  They  commonly 
call  it  Bosolct)  the  Italian  name,  which  shows  that  the 
knowledge  of  this  useful  instrument  was  communicated 
to  then,  by  the  Europeans.  There  is  not  one  single 
observation,  of  ancient  date,  made  by  Arabians  on  the 
variation  of  the  needle,  or  any  instruction  deduced 
from  it,  for  the  assistance  of  navigators.  Sir  John 
Chardin,  one  of  the  most  learned  and  best  inform- 
ed travellers  who  has  visited  the  East,  having  been 
consulted  upon  this  point,  returns  for  answer,  "  I 
.boldly  assert,  that  the  Asiatics  are  beholden  to  us  for 
this  wonderful  instrument,  which  they  had  from  Eu- 
rope a  long  time  before  the  Portuguese  conquests. 
For,  first,  their  compasses  are  exactly  like  ours,  and 
they  buy  them  of  Europeans  as  much  as  they  can, 
scarce  daring  to  meddle  with  their  needles  themselves. 
Secondly,  it  is  certain  that  the  old  navigators  only 
coasted  it  along,  which  I  impute  to  their  want  of  this 
instrument  to  guide  and  instruct  them  in  the  mid- 
dle of  the  ocean.  We  cannot  pretend  to  say  that 
they  were  afraid  of  venturing  far  from  home,  for 
the  Arabians,  the  first  navigators  in  the  world  in 
my  opinion,  at  least  for  the  eastern  seas,  have, 
time  out  of  mind,  sailed  from  the  bottom  of  the 
Red  sea,  all  along  the  coast  of  Africa ;  and  the 
Chinese  have  always  traded  with  Java  and  Sumatra, 
which  is  a  very  considerable  voyage.  So  many  is- 
lands uninhabited  and  yet  productive,  so  many  lands 
unknown  to  the  people  I  speak  of,  are  a  proof 
that  the  old  navigators  had  not  the  art  of  sailing 
on  the  main  sea.  I  have  nothing  but  argument  to 
offer  touching  this  matter,  having  never  met  with 
any  person  in  Persia  or  the  Indies  to  inform  me 
when  the  compass  was  first  known  among  them, 
though  I  made  inquiry  of  the  most  learned  men 
in  both  countries.  I  have  sailed  from  the  Indies  to 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS,  835 

Persia  in  Indian  ships,  when  no  European?  has  been 
on  board  but  myself.  The  pilots  were  all  Indians^ 
and  they  used  the  forestaff  and  quadrant  for  their 
observations.  These  instruments  they  have  from  us, 
and  made  by  our  artists,  and  they  do  not  in  the 
least  vary  from  ours,  except  that  the  characters  are 
Arabic.  The  Arabians  are  the  most  skilful  navi- 
gators of  all  the  Asiatics  or  Africans  ;  but  neither 
they  nor  the  Indians  make  use  of  charts ;  and  they 
do  not  much  want  them  :  some  they  have,  but  they 
are  copied  from  ours,  for  they  are  altogether  igno- 
rant of  perspective."  Inquiry  when  the  Mahomedans 
first  entered  China,  p.  141,  &c.  When  M.  Niehbuhr 
was  at  Cairo,  he  found  a  magnetic  needle  in  the  pos- 
session of  a  Mahomedan,  which  served  to  point  out 
the  Kaaba,  and  he  gave  it  the  name  of  El  Magnatis, 
a  clear  proof  of  its  European  origin.  Voyage  en  Ara- 
bic, torn.  ii.  p.  169. 


NOTE  XXXIX.  SECT.  III.  p.  103. 

Some  learned  men,  Cardan,  Scaliger,  &c.  have  im- 
agined that  the  Vasa  Murrhina,  particularly  described 
by  Pliny,  Nat.  Hist.  lib.  xxxvii.  and  occasionally  men- 
tioned by  several  ancient  authors  both  Greek  and  Ro- 
man, were  the  true  porcelain  of  China.  M.  1'Abbe  Le 
Bland  and  M.  Larcher  have  examined  this  opinion, 
with  full  as  much  industry  and  erudition  as  the  subject 
merited,  in  two  dissertations  published  in  Mem.  de 
Literat.  torn,  xliii.  From  them  it  is  evident  that  the 
Vasa  Murrhina  were  formed  of  a  transparent  stone 
dug  out  of  the  earth  in  some  of  the  eastern  provinces 
of  Asia.  These  were  imitated  in  vessels  of  coloured 
glass.  As  both  were  beautiful  and  rare,  they  were 
sold  at  a  very  high  price  tQ  the  luxurious  citizens  of 


336  NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


NOTE  XL.  SECT.  III.  p.  105. 


The  progress  of  Christianity,  and  of  Mahome- 
danism,  both  in  China  and  India,  is  attested  by  such  evi- 
dence as  leaves  no  doubt  with  respect  to  it.  This  evi- 
dence is  collected  by  Assemanus,  Biblioth.  Orient, 
vol.  iv.  p.  437,  &c.  521,  &c.  and  by  M.  Renaudot, 
in  two  dissertations  annexed  to  Anciennes  Relations  ; 
and  by  M.  de  la  Croze,  Histoire  de  Christianisme  cles 
Indes.  In  our  own  age,  however,  we  know  that  the 
number  of  proselytes  to  either  of  these  religions  is  ex- 
tremely small,  especially  in  India.  A  Gentoo  consi- 
ders all  the  distinctions  and  privileges  of  his  cast,  as 
belonging  to  him  by  an  exclusive  and  incommunicable 
right.  To  convert,  or  to  be  converted,  are  ideas  equally 
repugnant  to  the  principles  most  deeply  rooted  in  his 
mind  ;  nor  can  either  the  catholic  or  protestant  mis- 
sionaries in  India  boast  of  having  overcome  these  pre- 
judices, except  amorrg  a  few  in  the  lowest  casts,  or 
of  such  as  have  lost  their  cast  altogether.  This  last 
circumstance  is  a  great  obstacle  to  the  progress  of 
Christianity  in  India.  As  Europeans  eat  the  flesh  of 
that  animal  which  the  Hindoos  deem  sacred,  and  drink 
intoxicating  liquors,  in  which  practices  they  are  imi- 
tated by  the  converts  to  Christianity,  this  sinks  them  to 
a  level  with  the  Pariars,  the  most  contemptible  and 
odious  race  of  men.  Some  catholic  missionaries  were 
so  sensible  of  this,  that  they  affected  to  imitate  the 
dress  and  manner  of  living  of  Brahmins,  and  refused 
to  associate  with  the  Pariars,  or  to  admit  them  to  the 
participation  of  the  sacraments.  But  this  was  con- 
demned by  the  apostolic  legate  Tournon,  as  incon- 
sistent with  the  spirit  and  precepts  of  the  Christian  re- 
ligion ;  Voyage  aux  Indes  Orientates,  par  M.  Sonne* 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  337 

tat,  torn*  i.  p.  58.  note.  Notwithstanding  the  labours 
of  missionaries  for  upwards  of  two  hundred  years, 
(says  a  late  ingenious  writer,)  and  the  establishments  of 
different  Christian  nations,  who  support  and  protect 
them,  out  of,  perhaps,  one  hundred  millions  of  Hindoos, 
there  are  not  twelve  thousand  Christians,  and  those  al- 
most entirely  Chancalas^  or  outcasts.  Sketches  relating 
to  the  history,  religion,  learning  and  manners  of  the 
Hindoos,  p.  48.  The  number  of  Mahomedans,  or 
Moors,  now  in  Indostan  is  supposed  to  be  near  ten 
millions ;  but  they  are  not  the  original  inhabitants  of 
the  country,  but  the  descendants  of  adventurers  who 
have  been  pouring  in  from  Tartary,  Persia,  and  Arabia^ 
ever  since  the  invasion  of  Mahmoud  of  Gazna,  A.  D. 
1002,  the  first  Mahomedan  conqueror  of  India.  Orme 
Hist,  of  Military  Transact,  in  Indostan,  vol.  i.  p.  24. 
Herbelot,  Biblioth.  Orient,  artic.  Gaznamcfh.  As  the 
manners  of  the  Indians  in  ancient  times  seem  to  have 
been,  in  every  respect,  the  same  with  those  of  the  pre- 
sent age,  it  is  probable,  that  the  Christians  and  Maho- 
medans, said  to  be  so  numerous  in  India  and  China, 
were  chiefly  foreigners,  allured  thither  by  a  lucrative 
commerce,  or  their  descendants.  The  number  of  Ma- 
homedans in  China  has  been  considerably  increased  by 
a  practice,  common  among  them,  of  buying  children 
in  years  of  famine,  whom  they  educate  in  the  Maho- 
medan religion.  Hist.  Gener.  des  Voyages,  torn,  vi*  p. 
457. 


NOTE  XLI.  SECT.  III.  p.  no. 


From  the  Chronicle  of  Andrew  Dandulo,  Doge  of 
Venice,  who  was  elevated  to  that  high  station  at  a 
time  when  his  countrymen  had  established  a  regular 
trade  with  Alexandria,  and  imported  from  it  all  the 
productions  of  the  East,  it  was  natural  to  expect  some 

3  Y 


338  NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

information    concerning    their    early    trade    with    that 
country ;    but,    except    an    idle    tal£    concerning    some 
Venetian  ships   which  had  sailed  to  Alexandria  about 
the  year  828,  contrary  to  a  decree  of  the   state,   and 
which    stole    thence    the    body   of  St.    Mark ;   Murat. 
Script.  Rer.  Ital.  vol.  xii.  lib.  8.  c.  2.  p.  170;   I  find  no 
other  hint  concerning  the   communication  between  the 
two  countries.      On   the   contrary,  circumstances   occur 
which  show  that  the  resort  of  Europeans  to  Egypt  had 
ceased,  almost  entirely   for  some  time.      Prior  to  the 
seventh  and  eighth  centuries,    the    greater   part  of  the 
public  deeds  in  Italy  and  in  other  countries  of  Europe, 
were   written   upon    paper  fabricated    of  the  Egyptian 
Papyrus  ;  but  after  that  period,  as  Europeans  seldom, 
ventured  to  trade   in   Alexandria,    almost   all  charters 
and  other  deeds  are  written  upon  parchment.      Murat. 
Antiq.  Ital.   Medii  -&vi,  vol.  iii.  p.  832.      I  have  been 
induced  both   in  the  text  and  in    this    note,    to    state 
these   particulars    concerning  the  interruption  of  trade 
between  the  Christians   and   Mahomedans  so  fully,   m 
order  to  correct  an  error  into  which  several  modern  au- 
thors have  fallen,  by  supposing,  that  soon  after  the  first 
conquests  of  the  califs,  the   trade  with  India   returned 
into  its  ancient  channels,  and  the  merchants  of  Europe 
resorted  with  the  same  freedom  as  formerly  to  the  ports 
of  Egypt  and  Syria. 


NOTE  XLII.   SECT.  III.  p.  114. 


it  is  proper  to  remark  (says  Mr.  Stewart)  that  the 
Indians  have  an  admirable  method  of  rendering  their 
religion  lucrative,  it  being  usual  for  the  Faquirs  to 
carry  with  them,  in  their  pilgrimages  from  the  sea- 
coasts  to  the  interior  parts,  pearls,  corals,  spices,  and 
other  precious  articles,  of  small  bulk,  which  they  ex- 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  339 

change,  on  their  return,  for  gold-dust,  musk,  and  other 
things  of  a  similar  nature,  concealing  them  easily  in 
their  hair,  and  in  the  cloths  round  their  middle,  carrying 
on  in  proportion  to  their  numbers,  no  inconsiderable 
traffic  by  these  means.  Account  of  the  kingdom  of 
Thibet,  Philos.  Transact,  vol.  Ixvii.  part  ii.  p.  483. 


NOTE  XLIII.  SECT.  III.  p.  123. 

Caffa  is  the  most  commodious  station  for  trade  in 
the  Black  sea.  While  in  the  hands  of  the  Genoese, 
who  kept  possession  of  it  above  two  centuries,  they  ren- 
dered it  the  seat  of  an  extensive  and  flourishing  com- 
merce. Even  under  all  the  disadvantages  of  its  subjec- 
tion, at  present,  to  the  Turkish  government,  it  continues 
to  be  a  place  of  considerable  trade.  Sir  John  Chardin, 
who  visited  it  A.  D.  1672,  relates  that  during  his  resi- 
dence of  forty  days  there,  above  four  hundred  ships 
arrived  at  Caffa,  or  sailed  from  it.  Voyages,  i.  48.  He 
observed  there  several  remains  of  Geonese  magnificence. 
The  number  of  its  inhabitants,  according  to  M.  Pey» 
son«l,  amounts  still  to  eighty  thousand.  Commerce  de 
la  Mer  Noire,  torn.  i.  p.  15.  He  describes  its  tradq 
as  very  great. 


NOTE  XLIV.  SECT.  III.  p.  124. 


The  rapacity  and  insolence  of  the  Genoese  settled  in 
Constantinople,  are  painted  by  Nicephorus  Gregoras, 
an  eyewitness  of  their  conduct,  in  very  striking  colours. 
"They,"  says  he,  "  now,"  i.  e.  about  the  year  1340, 
dreamed  that  they  had  acquired  the  dominion  of  the 
sea,  and  claimed  an  exclusive  right  to  the  trade  ot 
the  Euxine,  prohibiting  the  Greeks  to  sail  to  the 
Mceotis,  the  Chersonesus,  or  any  part  of  the  coast  be* 


340  NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

yond  the  mouth  of  the  Danube,  without  a  license  from 
them.  This  exclusion  they  extended  likewise  to  the 
Venetians,  and  their  arrogance  proceeded  so  far  as  to 
form  a  scheme  of  imposing  a  toll  upon  every  vessel 
passing  through  the  Bosphorus."  Lib.  xviii.  c.  2.  §  1. 


NOTE  XLV.   SECT.  III.  p.  125, 


A  permission  from  the  pope  was  deemed  so  neces- 
sary to  authorize  a  commercial  intercourse  with  infidels, 
that  long  after  this  period,  in  the  year  1454,  Nicho- 
las V.  in  his  famous  bull  in  favour  of  prince  Henry  of 
Portugal,  among  other  privileges,  grants  him  a  license 
to  trade  with  Mahomedans,  and  refers  to  similar  con- 
cessions from  pope  Martin  V ;  and  Eugenius,  to  kings 
of  Portugal.  Leibnitz  Codex  Jur.  Gent.  Diplomat- 
Pars  I.  p.  489. 


NOTE  XL VI,  SECT.  III.  p.  127. 


Neither  Jovius,  the  professed  panegyrist  of  the  Me- 
dici, nor  Jo.  M.  Brutus,  their  detractor,  though  both 
mention  the  exorbitant  wealth  of  the  family,  explain 
the  nature  of  the  trade  by  which  it  was  acquired.  Even 
Machiavel,  whose  genius  delighted  in  the  investiga- 
tion of  every  circumstance  which  contributed  to  aggran- 
dize or  depress  nations,  seems  not  to  have  viewed  the 
commerce  of  his  country  as  a  subject  that  merited  any 
elucidation;  Denina,  who  has  entitled  the  first  chapter 
of  his  eighteenth  book,  "  The  Origin  of  the  Medici  and 
the  commencement  of  their  power  and  grandeur," 
furnishes  little  information  with  regard  to  the  trade  car- 
fled  on  by  them.  This  silence  of  so  many  authors  is  $ 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS  34 i 

prqof  that  historians  had  not  yet  begun  to  view  com- 
merce as  an  object  of  such  importance  in  the  political 
state  of  nations,  as  to  enter  into  any  detail  concerning 
its  nature  and  effects.  From  the  references  of  different 
writers  to  Scipio  Ammirato,  Istorie  Florentine;  to 
Pagnini,  Delia  Decima  ed  altri  gravezze  della  Merca- 
tura  di  Fiorentini,  and  to  Balducci,  Practica  della  Mer- 
catura,  I  should  imagine  that  something  more  satisfactory 
might  be  learned  concerning  the  trade  both  of  the  re~ 
public  and  the  family  of  Medici ;  but  I  could  not  find 
any  of  these  books  either  in  Edinburgh  or  in  London. 


NOTE  XLVII.  SECT.  III.  p.  127. 


Leibnitz  has  preserved  a  curious  paper,  containing 
the  instructions  of  the  republic  of  Florence  to  the  two 
ambassadors  sent  to  the  Soldan  of  Egypt,  in  order  to 
negotiate  this  treaty  with  him,  together  with  the  report 
of  these  ambassadors  on  their  return.  The  great  ob- 
ject of  the  republic  was  to  obtain  liberty  of  trading 
in  all  parts  of  the  Soldan's  don^inions,  upon  the  same 
terms  with  the  Venetians.  The  chief  privileges  which 
they  solicited,  were;  1.  A  perfect  freedom  of  admis- 
sion into  every  port  belonging  to  the  Soldan,  protection 
while  they  continued  in  it,  and  liberty  of  departure  at 
what  time  they  chose.  2.  Permission  to  have  a  con- 
sul, with  the  same  rights  and  jurisdiction  as  those 
of  the  Venetians ;  and  liberty  to  build  a  church,  a 
warehouse,  and  a  bath  in  every  place  where  they  set- 
tled. 3.  That  they  should  not  pay  for  goods  imported 
or  exported  higher  duties  than  were  paid  by  the  Vene- 
tians. 4.  That  the  effects  of  any  Florentine  who  died 
in  the  dominions  of  the  Soldan  should  be  consigned  to 
the  consul.  $.  That  the  gold  and  silver  coin  of  Flo 


342  NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

rence  should  be  received  in  payments.  All  these 
privileges  (which  show  on  what  equal  and  liberal 
terms  Christians  and  Mahomedans  now  carried  on 
trade)  the  Florentines  obtained;  but  from  the  causes 
mentioned  in  the  text,  they  seem  never  to  have  ac- 
quired any  considerable  share  in  the  commerce  with 
India.  Leibnitz,  Mantissa  Cod.  Jur.  Gent.  Diplom, 
Pars  altera,  p.  163. 


NOTE  XLVIII.  SECT.  III.  p.  133. 


The  Eastern  parts  of  Asia  are  now  so  completely 
explored,  that  the  first  imperfect  accounts  of  them,  by 
Marco  Polo,  attract  little  of  that  attention  which  was 
originally  excited  by  the  publication  of  his  travels ; 
and  some  circumstances  in  his  narrative  have  induced 
different  authors  to  justify  this  neglect,  by  calling  in 
question  the  truth  of  what  he  relates,  and  even  to  as- 
sert that  he  had  never  visited  those  countries  which 
he  pretends  to  describe.  He  does  not,  say  they,  as- 
certain the  position  of  anyjone  place  by  specifying  its 
longitude  or  latitude.  ^He  gives  names  to  provinces 
and  cities  particularly  in  his  description  of  Cathay, 
which  have  no  resemblance  to  those  which  they  now 
bear.  We  may  observe,  however,  that  as  Marco  Polo 
seems  to  have  been,  in  no  degree,  a  man  of  science, 
it  was  not  to  be  expected  that  he  should  fix  the  position 
of  places  with  geographical  accuracy.  As  he  travelled 
through  China,  either  in  the  suite  of  the  great  Khan, 
or  in  execution  of  his  orders,  it  is  probable  that  the 
names  which  he  gives  to  different  provinces  and  cities, 
are  those  by  which  they  were  known  to  the  Tartars, 
in  whose  service  he  was,  not  their  original  Chinese 
names.  Some  inaccuracies  which  have  been  observed 
in  the  relation  of  his  travels,  may  be  accounted  for, 
b  attending  to  one  circumstance,  that  it  was  not  pub* 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS:  343 

iished   from    a    regular  journal,    which,    perhaps,    the 
vicissitudes   in  his  situation,   during  such  a  long  series 
of    adventures,    did    not    permit   him    to    keep   or    to 
preserve.      It   was   composed    after    his    return    to   his 
native    country,    and    chiefly    from    recollection.      But 
notwithstanding  this  disadvantage,  his  account  of  those 
regions  of  the  East,  towards  which  my  inquiries  have 
been    directed,    contains    information    with    respect  to 
several   particulars    altogether  unknown  in   Europe    at 
that    time,    the  accuracy   of   which  is  now  fully   con- 
firmed.     Mr.   Marsden,  whose   accuracy  and  discern- 
ment are   well   known,    traces   his   description   of   the 
island  which  he  calls  Java  minor,  evidently  Sumatra; 
from  which  it  is   apparent  that,    as   Marco  Polo   had 
resided  a  considerable  time   in  that  island,  he  had  ex- 
amined some  parts   with  care,  and  had   inquired  with 
diligence  concerning  others.      Hist,   of  Sumat.    p.  281. 
I  shall  mention   some  other  particulars  with  respectxo 
India,    which    though    they   relate    to    matters    of   no 
great  consequence,   afford  the  best   proof   of  his  hav- 
ing visited  these  countries,  and   of  his   having  observ- 
ed the  manners  and  customs  of  the  people  with  atten- 
tion.     He  gives  a  distinc^account  of  the  nature  and 
preparation  of  Sago,  the  principal  article  of  subsistence 
among  all  the  nations  of  Malayan  race,  and  he  brought 
the    first     specimen    of    this    singular     production    to 
Venice.      Ramus.    lib.   iii.    c.    16.      He    takes    notice, 
likewise    of    the    general    custom    of    chewing    Betel, 
and    his    description   of  the    mode  of   preparing   it   is 
the   same   with   that  still  in    use.      Ramus.   Viaggi,  i. 
p.   55.    D.   56.   B.      He  even   descends    into   such  de- 
tail   as    to    mention  the    peculiar    manner    of   feeding- 
horses  in  India,   which  still  continues.      Ramus.  p.  53. 
F.     What  is  of   greater    importance,    we   learn   from 
him  that  the  trade   with    Alexandria,  continued    when 
fie    travelled   through   India,    to  be   carried  on   in  the 
same   manner    as    I    conjectured   it    to    have    been    in 
ancient  times.     The    commodities   of   the    East    were 


344  NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

still  brought  to  the  Malabar  coast  by  vessels  of  the 
country,  and  conveyed  thence,  together  with  pepper 
and  other  productions  peculiar  to  that  part  of  India,  by 
ships  which  arrived  from  the  Red  Sea.  Lib.  iii.  c. 
27.  This,  perhaps,  may  account  for  the  superior 
quality  which  Sanudo  ascribes  to  the  goods  brought 
to  the  coast  of  Syria  from  the  Persian  gulf,  above 
those  imported  into  Egypt  by  the  Red  Sea.  The 
former  were  chosen  and  purchased  in  the  places  where 
they  grew  or  where  they  were  manufactured,  by  the 
merchants  of  Persia,  who  still  continued  their  voyages 
to  every  part  of  the  East;  while  the  Egyptian  mer- 
chants, in  making  up  their  cargoes,  depended  upon  the 
assortment  of  goods  brought  to  the  Malabar  coast  by 
the  natives.  To  some  persons  in  his  own  age,  what 
Marco  Polo  related  concerning  the  numerous  armies 
and  immense  revenues  of  the  Eastern  princes,  appeared 
so  extravagant,  (though  perfectly  consonant  to  what  we 
now  know  concerning  the  population  of  China,  anct 
the  wealth  of  Indostan,)  that  they  gave  him  the  name 
of  Messer  Marco  Milwm.  Prefat.  de  Ramus.  p.  4. 
But  among  persons  better  informed,  the  reception  he 
met  with  was  very  different.  Columbus,  as  well  as 
the  men  of  science  \vit£  wrom  he  corresponded,  placed 
such  confidence  in  the  veracity  of  his  relations,  that 
upon  them,  the  speculations  and  theories,  which  led 
to  the  discovery  of  the  New  World,  were  in  a  great 
measure  founded.  Life  of  Columbus  by  his  Son,  c.  7. 
and  8. 


NOTE  XLIX.  SECT.  III.  p.  139. 


In  the  year  1301,  Joanna  of  Navarre,  the  wife  bf 
Philip  le  Bel  king  of  France,  having  been  some  days  in 
Bruges,  was  so  much  struck  with  the  grandeur  and  wealth 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  345 

of  that  city,  and  particularly  with  the  splendid  appear- 
ance of  the  citizens'  wives,  that  she  was  moved  (says 
Guicciardini)  by  female  envy  to  exclaim  with  indigna- 
tion, "  I  thought  that  I  had  been  the  only  queen  here, 
but  I  find  there  are  many  hundreds  more."  Descrit, 
de  Paesi  Bassi,  p.  408. 


NOTE  L.  SECT.  III.  p.  141. 


In  the  history  of  the  reign  of  Charles  V.  vol.  i.  p.  163> 
I  observe,  that,  during  the  war  excited  by  the  famous 
league  of  Cambray,  while  Charles  VIII.  of  France  could 
not  procure  money  at  a  less  premium  than  forty  two  per- 
cent, the  Venetians  raised  what  sums  they  pleased  at  five 
per  cent.  But  this,  I  imagine,  is  not  to  be  considered 
as  the  usual  commercial  rate  of  interest  at  that  period, 
but  as  a  voluntary  and  public-spirited  effort  of  the  citi- 
zens, in  order  to  support  their  country  at  a  dangerous 
crisis.  Of  such  laudable  exertions,  there  are  several 
striking  instances  in  the  history  of  the  republic.  In  the 
year  1379,  when  the  Genoese,  after  obtaining  a  great 
naval  victory  over  the  Venetians,  were  ready  to  attack 
their  capital,  the  citizens,  by  a  voluntary  contribution, 
enabled  the  senate  to  fit  out  such  a  powerful  armament 
as  saved  their  country.  Sabellicus,  Hist.  Rer.  Venet. 
Dec.  ii.  lib.  vi.  p.  385.  390.  In  the  war  with  Ferrara, 
which  began  in  the  year  1472,  the  senate  relying  upon 
the  attachment  of  the  citizens  to  their  country,  requir- 
ed them  to  bring  all  their  gold  and  silver  plate,  and 
jewels,  into  the  public  treasury,  upon  promise  of  paying 
the  value  of  them  at  the  conclusion  of  the  war,  with 
five  per  cent,  of  interest ;  and  this  requisition  was  com- 
plied with  cheerfully.  Petr.  Cyrnseu*  de  Bdlo  Ferra.r. 
ap.  Murat.  Script,  tier.  Ital.  vol.  xxi.  p.  1016, 

2  2 


!46  NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATION^ 


NOTE  LI.  SECT.  III.  142. 


Two  facts  may  be  mentioned  as  proofs  of  an  extraor- 
dinary extension  of  the   Venetian  trade  at  this  period, 

• 1.  There  is  in  Rymer's  Great  Collection,  a  series  of 

grants  from  the  kings  of  England,  of  various  privileges 
and  immunities  to  Venetian  merchants  trading  in  Eng- 
land, as  well  as  several  commercial  treaties  with  the 
republic,  which  plainly  indicate  a  considerable  increase 
of  their  transactions  in  that  country.  These -are  mention- 
ed in  their  order  by  Mr.  Anderson,  to  whose  patient  in- 
dustry and  sound  understanding,  every  person  engaged 
in  any  commercial  research  must  have  felt  himself 
greatly  indebted  on  many  occasions, 2.  The  establish- 
ment of  a  bank  by  public  authority,  the  credit  of  which 
was  founded  on  that  of  the  state.  In  an  age  and  nation 
so  well  acquainted  with  the  advantages  which  commerce 
derives  from  the  institution  of  banks,  it  is  unnecessary 
to  enumerate  them.  Mercantile  transactions  must  have 
been  numerous  and  extensive  before  the  utility  of  such 
an  institution  could  be  fully  perceived,  or  the  principles 
of  trade  could  be  so  fully  understood  as  to  form  the  re- 
gulations proper  for  conducting  it  with  success.  Venice 
may  boast  of  having  given  the  first  example  to  Europe, 
of  an  establishment  altogether  unknown  to  the  ancients, 
and  which  is  the  pride  of  the  modern  commercial  system. 
The  constitution  of  the  bank  of  Venice  was  originally 
founded  on  such  just  principles,  that  it  has  served  as  a 
model  in  the  establishment  of  banks  in  other  countries, 
and  the  administration  of  its  affairs  has  been  conducted 
with  so  much  integrity,  that  its  credit  has  never  been 
shaken.  I  cannot  specify  the  precise  year  in  which  the 
bank  of  Venice  was  established  by  a  law  of  the  state. 
Anderson  supposes  it  to  have  been  A.  D.  1157.  Chron, 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  S4/ 

Deduct,  vol.  i.  p.  84.  Sandi  Stor.  Civil.  Venes.  part  II. 
vol.  ii.  p.  768.  part  III.  vol.  ii.  p.  892. 


NOTE  LIL  SECT.  III.  p.  143. 

An  Italian  author  of  good  credit,  and  a  diligent  in- 
quirer into  the  ancient  history  of  its  different  govern- 
ments, affirms,  that  if  the  several  states  which  traded  in 
the  Mediterranean  had  united  together,  Venice  alone 
would  have  been  superior  to  them  all,  in  naval  power 
and  in  extent  of  commerce.  Denina  Revolutions  d'lta- 
lie  traduits  par  PAbbe  Jardin,  lib.  xviii.  c.  6.  torn.  vi.  p, 
339.  About  the  year  142O,  the  doge  Mocenigo  gives 
a  view  of  the  naval  force  of  the  republic,  which  con- 
firms this  decision  of  Denina.  At  that  time  it  consist- 
ed of  three  thousand  trading  vessels,  of  various  dimen- 
sions, on  board  which  were  employed  seventeen  thousand 
sailors  ;  of  three  hundred  ships  of  greater  force  manned 
by  eight  thousand  sailors ;  and  of  forty-five  large  gale* 
asses,  or  carracks,  navigated  by  eleven  thousand  sai- 
lors. In  public  and  private  arsenals  sixteen  thousand 
carpenters  were  employed.  Mar.  Sanuto  Vite  de 
Duchi  di  Venezia,  ap.  Mur.  Script.  Rer.  Itai.  vol.  xxii. 
p.  959. 


NOTE  LIII.    SECT.  III.  p.  160. 

When  we  take  a  view  of  the  form  and  position  of  the 
habitable  parts  of  Asia  and  Africa,  we  will  see  good 
reasons  for  considering  the  camel  as  the  most  useful  of 
all  the  animals  over  which  the  inhabitants  of  these  great 
continents  have  acquired  dominion.  In  both,  some  of 
the  most  fertile  districts  are  separated  from  each  other 
by  such  extensive  tracts  of  barren  sands,  the  seats  of  de- 
solation apd  drought,  as  seem  to  exclude  the  possibility  of 


348  VOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS, 

communication  between  them.  But  as  the  ocean,  which 
appears,  at  first  view,  to  be  placed  as  an  insuperable 
barrier  between  different  regions  of  the  earth,  has  been 
rendered,  by  navigation,  subservient  to  their  mutual 
intercourse  ;  so,  by  means  of  the  camel,  which  the 
Arabians  emphatically  call  The  Ship  of  the  Desert,  the 
most  dreary  wastes  are,  traversed,  and  the  nations 
which  they  disjoin  are  enabled  to  trade  with  one  ano- 
ther. Those  painful  journeys,  impracticable  by  any 
other  animal,  the  camel  performs  with  astonishing 
despatch.  Under  heavy  burdens  of  six,  seven,  and 
eight  hundred  weight,  they  can  continue  their  march 
during  a  long  period  of  time,  with  little  food  or  rest, 
and  sometimes  without  tasting  water  for  eight  or  nine 
days.  By  the  wise  economy  of  Providence,  the  camel 
seems  formed  of  purpose  to  be  the  beast  of  burden  in 
those  regions  where  he  is  placed,  and  where  his  service 
is  most  wanted.  In  all  the  districts  of  Asia  and  Africa, 
•where  deserts  are  most  frequent  and  extensive,  the 
camel  abounds.  This  is  his  proper  station,  and  beyond 
this  the  sphere  of  his  activity  does  not  extend  far.  He 
dreads  alike  the  excesses  of  heat  and  of  cold,  and  does  not 
agree  even  with  the  mild  climate  of  our  temperate  zone. 
As  the  first  trade  in  Indian  commodities,  of  which  we 
have  any  authentic  account,  was  carried  on  by  means  of 
camels,  Genesis,  xxxvii.  25,  and  as  it  is  by  employing 
them  that  the  conveyance  of  these  commodities  has  been 
so  widely  extended  over  Asia  and  Africa,  the  particulars 
\vhich  I  have  mentioned  concerning  this  singular  animal 
appeared  to  be  necessary  towards  illustrating  this  part  of 
my  subject.  If  any  of  my  readers  desire  more  full  infor- 
mation, and  wish  to  know  how  the  ingenuity  and  art  of 
man  have  seconded  the  intentions  of  nature,  in  training 
the  camel  from  his  birth,  for  that  life  of  exertion  and 
hardship  to  which  he  is  destined,  he  may  consult  Histoire 
ISTaturelle,  by  M.  le  Cosnte  de  Buffon,  artic,  Chameau  ct 
Dromedairc,  one  of  the  most  eloquent,  and,  as  far  as  I 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

can  judge  from  examining  the  authorities  which  he  has 
quoted,  one  of  the  most  accurate  descriptions  given  by 
that  celebrated  writer.  M.  Volney,  whose  accuracy 
is  well  known,  gives  a  description  of  the  manner  in, 
which  the  camel  performs  its  journey,  which  may  be 
agreeable  to  some  of  my  readers.  "  In  travelling  through 
the  desert,  camels  are  chiefly  employed,  because  they 
consume  little,  and  carry  a  great  load.  His  ordinary 
burden  is  about  seven  hundred  and  fifty  pounds ;  his 
food,  whatever  is  given  him,  straw,  thistles,  the  stones 
of  dates,  beans,  barley,  &c.  With  a  pound  of  food  a 
day,  and  as  much  water,  he  will  travel  for  weeks.  In 
the  journey  from  Cairo  to  Suez,  which  is  forty  or  forty- 
six  hours,  they  neither  eat  nor  drink;  but  these  long 
fasts,  if  often  repeated,  wear  them  out.  Their  usual  rate 
of  travelling  is  very  slow,  hardly  above  two  miles  an 
hour  ;  it  is  vain  to  push  them,  they  will  not  quicken 
their  pace,  but,  if  allowed  some  short  rest,  they  will 
travel  fifteen  or  eighteen  hours  a  day."  Voyage,  torn, 
ii.  p.  383. 


NOTE  LIV.  SECT.  III.  p.  162, 


In  order  to  give  an  adequate  idea  of  the  extensive  cir- 
culation of  Indian  commodities  by  land-carriage,  it  would 
be  necessary  to  trace  the  route,  and  to  estimate  the  num- 
ber of  the  various  caravans  by  which  they  are  conveyed. 
Could  this  be  executed  with  accuracy,  it  would  be  a 
curious  subject  of  geographical  research,  as  well  as  a 
valuable  addition  to  commercial  history.  Though  it  is  in- 
consistent with  the  brevity  which  I  have  uniformly 
studied  in  conducting  this  Disquisition,  to  enter  into  a 
detail  of  so  great  length,  it  may  be  proper  here,  for  il- 
lustrating this  part  of  my  subject,  to  take  such  a  view  of 
two  caravans  which  visit  Mecca,  as  may  enable  my  rea- 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

ders  to  estimate  more  justly  the  magnitude  of  their  com- 
mercial transactions.  The  first  is  the  caravan  which  takes 
its  departure  from  Cairo  in  Egypt,  and  the  pther  from 
Damascus  in  Syria ;  and  I  select  these,  both  because 
they  are  the  most  considerable,  and  because  they  are 
described  by  authors  of  undoubted  credit,  who  had  the 
best  opportunities  of  receiving  full  information  concern- 
ing them.  The  former  is  composed  not  only  of  pil- 
grims from  every  part  of  Egypt,  but  of  those  which 
arrive  from  all  the  small  Mahomedan  states  on  the 
African  coast  of  the  Mediterranean,  from  the  empire 
of  Morocco,  and  even  from  the  Negro  kingdoms 
on  the  Atlantic.  When  assembled,  the  caravan  consists 
at  least  of  fifty  thousand  persons,  and  the  number  of 
camels  employed  in  carrying  water,  provisions,  and  mer- 
chandise, is  still  greater.  The  journey,  which,  ingoing 
from  Cairo,  and  returning  thither,  is  not  completed  in 
less  than  a  hundred  days,  is  performed  wholly  by  land; 
and  as  the  route  lies  mostly  through  sandy  deserts,  or 
barren  uninhabited  wilds,  which  seldom  afford  any  sub- 
sistence, and  where  often  no  sources  of  water  can  be 
foundr  the  pilgrims  always  undergo  much  fatigue,  and 
sometimes  must  endure  incredible  hardships.  An  early 
and  good  description  of  this  caravan  is  published  by 
Hackluyt,  vol.  ii.  p.  202,  &c.  Maillet  has  entered  into  a 
minute  and  curious  detail  with  regard  to  it ;  Descript. 
cle  1'Egypte,  part  ii.  p.  212,  &c.  Pococke  has  given  a 
route,  together  with  the  length  of  each  day's  march, 
which  he  received  from  a  person  who  had  been  fourteen 
times  at  Mecca,  vol.  i.  p.  188.  261,  &c. — The  caravan 
from  Damascus,  composed  of  pilgrims  from  almost  every 
province  of  the  Turkish  empire,  is  little  inferior  to  the 
former  in  number,  and  the  commerce  which  it  carries  on 
is  hardly  less  valuable.  Voyage  de  Volney,  torn.  ii.  p. 
'251,  &c.  Ohsson  Tabl.  Gener.  de  1'Empire  Othom.  III. 
p.  275,  &c.  This  pilgrimage  was  performed  in  the 
year  1741,  by  Khojeh  Abdulkurreem,  whom  I  formerly 
mentioned;  Note  V.  p.  296.  He  gives  the  usual  route 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  55  \ 

from  Damascus  to  Mecca,  computed  by  hours,  the  com* 
mon  mode  of  reckoning  a  journey  in  the  East  through 
countries  little  frequented.  According  to  the  most  mode- 
rate estimate,  the  distance  between  the  two  cities,  by  his 
account,  must  be  above  a  thousand  miles ;  a  great  part 
of  the  journey  is  through  a  desert,  and  the  pilgrims  not 
only  endure  much  fatigue,  but  are  often  exposed  to 
great  danger  from  the  wild  Arabs.  Memoirs,  p.  114, 
&c.  It  is  a  singular  proof  of  the  predatory  spirit  of 
the  Arabs,  that  although  all  their  independent  tribes  are 
zealous  Mahomedans,  yet  they  make  no  scruple  of 
plundering  the  caravans  of  pilgrims,  while  engaged 
in  performing  one  of  the  most  indespensable  duties  of 
their  religion.  A  remarkable  instance  of  this  oc- 
curred in  the  year  1757.  Travels  through  Cyprus, 
Syria,  &c.  by  Abbe  Mariti.  vol.  ii.  p.  117,  &c.  Engl. 
translation.  Great  as  these  caravans  are,  we  must  not 
suppose  that  all  the  pilgrims  who  visit  Mecca  belong  to 
them  ;  such  considerable  additions  are  received  from  the 
extensive  dominions  of  Persia,  from  every  province  of 
Indostan,  and  the  countries  to  the  east  of  it,  from  Abys- 
sinia, from  various  states  on  the  southern  coast  of  Africa, 
and  from  all  parts  of  Arabia,  that  when  the  whole  are 
assembled  they  have  been  computed  to  amount  to  two 
hundred  thousand.  In  some  years  the  number  is  farther 
increased  by  small  bands  of  pilgrims  from  several  in- 
terior provinces  of  Africa,  the  names  and  situations  of 
which  are  just  beginning  to  be  known  in  Europe.  For 
this  last  fact  we  are  indebted  to  the  Association  for  pro- 
moting the  Discovery  of  the  Interior  Parts  of  Africa, 
formed  by  some  British  gentlemen,  upon  principles  so 
liberal,  and  with  views  so  public  spirited,  as  do  honouf 
to  themselves  and  to  their  country.  Proceedings,  &c. 
p.  174. 

In  the  Report  of  the  Committee  of  the  Privy  Council 
on  the  Slave  Trade,,  other  particulars  are  contained; 
and  it  appears  that  the  commerce  carried  on  by  caravan* 


352  NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS, 

m  the  interior  parts  of  Africa  is  not  only  widely  ex- 
tended, but  of  considerable  value.  Besides  the  great 
caravan  which  proceeds  to  Cairo,  and  is  joined  by 
Mahomedan  pilgrims  from  every  part  of  Africa,  there 
are  caravans  which  have  no  object  but  commerce,  which 
set  out  from  Fez,  Algiers,  Tunis,  Tripoli,  and  other 
states  on  the  sea  coast,  and  penetrate  far  into  the  in- 
terior country.  Some  of  them  take  no  less  than  fifty 
days  to  reach  the  place  of  their  destination  ;  and,  as 
the  medium  of  their  rate  of  travelling  may  be  estimat- 
ed at  about  eighteen  miles  a  day,  the  extent  of  their 
journey  may  be  easily  computed.  As  both  the  time  of 
their  outset,  and  their  route,  are  known,  they  are  met 
by  the  people  of  all  the  countries  through  which  they 
travel,  who  trade  with  them.  Indian  goods  of  every 
kind  form  a  considerable  article  in  this  traffic,  in  ex- 
change for  which  the  chief  commodity  they  can  give  is 
slaves.  Part  vi. 

As  the  journeys  of  the  caravans,  which  are  purely 
commercial,  do  not  commence  at  stated  seasons,  and 
their  routes  vary  according  to  the  convenience  or  fancy 
of  the  merchants  of  whom  they  are  composed,  a  descrip- 
tion cannot  be  given  of  them  with  the  same  degree  of 
accuracy  as  of  the  great  caravans  which  visit  Mecca.  But 
by  attending  to  the  accounts  of  some  authors,  and  the 
occasional  hints  of  others,  sufficient  information  may  be 
gathered  to  satisfy  us,  that  the  circulation  of  Eastern  goods 
by  these  caravans  is  very  extensive.  The  same  inter- 
course which  was  anciently  kept  up  by  the  provinces  in 
the  north-east  of  Asia  with  Indostan  and  China,  and 
which  I  formerly  described,  still  subsists.  Among  all  the 
numerous  tribes  of  Tartars,  even  of  those  which  retain 
their  pastoral  manners  in  greatest  purity,  the  demand  for 
the  productions  of  these  two  countries  is  very  consider- 
able. Voyages  de  Pallas,  torn.  i.  p.  357.  &cc,  torn.  ii.  p.  422. 
In  order  to  supply  them  with  these,  caravans  set  out 
annually  from  Boghar,  (Hackhiyt,  vol.  i.  p.  33£.)  Samar- 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS,  353 

cand,  Thibet,  and  several  other  places,  and  return  with 
large  cargoes  of  Indian  and  Chinese  goods.  But  the 
trade  carried  on  between  Russia  and  China,  in  this  part 
of  Asia,  is  by  far  the  most  extensive  and  best  known. 
Some  connexion  of  this  kind,  it  is  probable,  was  kept  up 
between  them  from  the  earliest  period,  but  it  increased 
greatly  after  the  interior  parts  of  Russia  were  rendered 
more  accessible  by  the  conquests  of  Zingis  Khan  and 
Tamerlane*  The  commercial  nations  of  Europe  were 
so  well  acquainted  with  the  mode  of  carrying  on  this 
trade,  that  soon  after  the  Portuguese  had  opened  the? 
communication  with  the  East  by  the  cape  of  Good  Hope, 
an  attempt  was  made,  in  order  to  diminish  the  advan- 
tages which  they  derived  from  this  discovery,  to  prevail 
on  the  Russians  to  convey  Indian  and  Chinese  commo- 
dities through  the  whole  extent  of  their  empire,  partly 
by  land  carriage  and  partly  by  means  of  navigable  rivers, 
to  some  port  on  the  Baltic,  from  which  they  might  be 
distributed  through  every  part  of  Europe.  Ramusio 
Raccolto  da  Viaggi,  vol.  i.  p.  374.  B.  Hist,  du  Com- 
merce de  la  Russie,  par  M.  Schreder,  torn,  i.  p.  13,  14. 
This  scheme,  too  great  for  the  monarch  then  on  the 
throne  of  Russia  to  carry  into  execution,  was  rendered 
practicable  by  the  conquests  of  Ivan  Basilowitz,  and  the 
genius  of  Peter  the  Great.  Though  the  capitals  of  the 
two  empires  were  situated  at  the  immense  distance  of^ 
six  thousand  three  hundred  and  seventy-eight  miles  fra«i 
each  other,  and  the  route  lay  for  above  four  hundred 
miles  through  an  uninhabited  desert,  (Bell's  Travels,  vol, 
Ji.  p.  167,)  caravans  travelled  from  the  one  to  the  other. 
But  though  it  had  been  stipulated,  when  this  intercourse 
was  established,  that  the  number  of  persons  in  each 
caravan  should  not  exceed  two  hundred,  and  though  they 
were  shut  up  within  the  walls  of  a  caravanserai  during 
the  short  time  they  were  suffered  to  Remain  in  Pekin, 
and  were  allowed  to  deal  only  with  a  few  merchants  to 

a  A 


354  NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

whom  a  monopoly  of  the  trade  with  them  had  been 
granted;  yet,  notwithstanding  all  these  restraints  and 
precautions,  the  jealous  vigilance  with  which  the  Chi- 
nese government  excludes  foreigners  from  a  free  inter- 
course with  its  subjects,  was  alarmed,  and  the  admission 
of  the  Russian  caravans  into  the  empire  was  soon  pro- 
hibited. After  various  negotiations,  an  expedient  was 
at  length  devised,  by  which  the  advantages  of  mutual 
commerce  were  secured,  without  infringing  the  cautious 
arrangements  of  Chinese  policy.  On  the  boundary  of 
the  two  empires  two  small  towns  were  built  almost  con- 
tiguous, Kiachta  inhabited  by  Russians,  and  Maimat- 
schin  by  Chinese.  To  these  all  the  marketable  produc- 
tions of  their  respective  countries  are  brought  by  the 
subjects  of  each  empire ;  and  the  furs,  the  linen  and 
woollen  cloth,  the  leather,  the  glass,  &c.  of  Russia,  are 
exchanged  for  the  silk,  the  cotton,  the  tea,  the  rice,  the 
toys,  &c.  of  China.  By  some  well-judged  concessions 
of  the  sovereign  now  seated  on  the  throne  of  Russia, 
whose  enlarged  mind  is  superior  to  the  illiberal  maxims 
of  many  of  her  predecessors,  this  trade  is  rendered  so 
flourishing,  that  its  amount  annually  is  not  less  than, 
eight  hundred  thousand  pounds  sterling,  and  it  is  the 
only  trade  which  China  caries  on  almost  entirely  by  bar- 
ter. Mr.  Coxe,  in  his  account  of  the  Russian  disco- 
veries, has  collected,  with  his  usual  attention  and  dis- 
cernment, every  thing  relative  to  this  branch  of  trade, 
the  nature  and  extent  of  which  were  little  known  in 
Europe.  Part  ii.  chap,  ii,  iii,  iv.  Nor  is  Kiachta  the 
only  place  where  Russia  receives  Chinese  and  Indian 
commodities.  A  considerable  supply  of  both  is  brought 
by  caravans  of  independent  Tartars  to  Orenburg,  on  the 
river  Jaik ;  Voyage  de  Pallas,  torn.  i.  p.  355,  &c.  to 
Troitzkaia,  on  the  river  Oui,  and  to  other  places  which 
I  might  mention.  I  have  entered  into  this  long  detail 
concerning  the  mode  in  which  the  productions  in  India 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  355 

and  China  are  circulated  through  Russia,  as  it  affords 
the  most  striking  instance,  I  know,  of  the  great  extent 
to  which  valuable  commodities  may  be  conveyed  by 
fond-  carriage.  * 


NOTE  LV.  SECT.  IV.  p.  166, 


The  only  voyage  of  discovery  in  the  Atlantic  ocean, 
towards  the  south,  by  any  of  the  ancient  commercial 
states  in  the  Mediterranean,  is  that  of  Hanno,  undertaken 
by  order  of  the  republic  of  Carthage.  As  the  situation 
of  that  city,  so  much  nearer  the  Straits  than  Tyre, 
Alexandria,  and  the  other  seats  of  ancient  trade  which 
have  been  mentioned,  gave  it  more  immediate  access  to 
the  ocean;  that  circumstance,  together  with  the  various 
settlements  which  the  Carthaginians  had  made  in  differ- 
ent provinces  of  Spain,  naturally  suggested  to  them  this 
enterprise,  and  afforded  them  the  prospect  of  consider- 
able advantages  from  its  success.  The  voyage  of  Hanno, 
instead  of  invalidating,  seems  to  confirm  the  justness  of 
the  reasons  which  have  been  given,  why  no  similar  at- 
tempt was  made  by  the  other  commercial  states  in  the 
Mediterranean. 


NOTE  LVI.  SECT.  IV.  p.  168, 


Though  the  intelligent  authors  whom  I  have  qupted 
considered  this  voyage  of  the  Phenicians  as  fabulous, 
Herodotus  mentions  a  circumstance  concerning  it  which 
seems  tp  prove  that  it  had  really  been  performed' 


NOTES  ANl)  ILLUSTRATIONS 

"  The  Phenicians,"  says  he,  "  affirmed,  that  in  sailing 
round  Africa,  they  had  the  sun  on  their  right  hand, 
which  to  me  appears  not  to  be  credible,  though  it  may 
be  deemed  so  by  others."  Lib.  iv.  c.  42.  This,  it  is 
certain,  must  have  happened,  if  they  really  accomplished 
such  a  voyage.  The  science  of  astronomy,  however, 
was  in  that  early  period  so  imperfect,  that  it  was  by  ex- 
perience only  that  the  Phenicians  could  come  at  the 
knowledge  of  this  fact;  they  durst  not,  without  this, 
have  ventured  to  assert  what  would  have  appeared  to  be 
an  improbable  fiction.  Even  after  what  they  related, 
Herodotus  disbelieved  it. 


NOTE  LVII.  SECT.  IV.  p.  176, 


Notwithstanding  this  increasing  demand  for  the  pro- 
ductions of  India,  it  is  remarkable,  that  during  the  six- 
teenth century  some  commodities  which  are  now  the 
chief  articles  of  importation  from  the  East,  were  either 
altogether  unknown,  or  of  little  account.  Tea,  the  im- 
portation of  which  at  present,  far  exceeds  that  of  any 
other  production  of  the  East,  has  not  been  in  general  use 
in  any  country  of  Europe,  a  full  century;  and  yet,  dur- 
ing that  short  period,  from  some  singular  caprice  of 
taste,  or  power  of  fashion,  the  infusion  of  a  leaf  brought 
from  the  farthest  extremity  of  the  earth,  of  which  it  is 
perhaps  the  highest  praise  to  say  that  it  is  innoxious, 
has  become  almost  a  necessary  of  life  in  several  parts  of 
Europe,  and  the  passion  for  it  descends  from  the  most 
elevated  to  the  lowest  orders  in  society.  In  1785  it  was 
computed  that  the  whole  quantity  of  tea  imported  into 
Europe  from  China  was  about  nineteen  millions  of 
pounds,  of  which  it  is  conjectured  that  twelve  millions 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  357 

.were  consumed  in  Great  Britain  and  the  dominions  de- 
pending upon  it.  Dodsley's  Annual  Register  for  1 784< 
and  1785,  p.  156.  In  1789  twenty-one  millions  of 
pounds  were  imported.  The  porcelain  of  China,  now 
as  common  in  many  parts  of  Europe  as  if  it  were  of 
domestic  manufacture,  was  not  known  to  the  ancients, 
Marco  Polo  is  the  first  among  the  moderns  who  men- 
tions it.  The  Portuguese  began  to  import  it  not  long 
after  their  first  voyage  to  China,  A.  D.  1517 ;  but  it 
\vas  a  considerable  time  before  the  use  of  it  became 
extensive* 


NOTE  LVIIL  SECT.  III.  p.  20O. 


According  to  all  the  writers  of  antiquity,  the  Indians 
are  said  to  be  divided  into  seven  tribes  or  casts.  Strabo, 
lib.  xv.  p.  1029.  C.  &c.  Diod.  Sicul.  lib.  ii.  p.  153, 
&c.  Arrian.  Indie,  c.  10.  They  were  led  into  this 
error,  it  is  probable,  by  considering  some  of  the  subdi- 
visions of  the  casts,  as  if  they  had  been  a  distinct  inde- 
pendent order.  But  that  they  were  no  more  than  four 
original  casts,  we  learn  from  the  concurring  testimony 
of  the  best  informed  modern  travellers.  A  most  distinct 
Account  of  these  we  have  in  "  La  Porte  Ouverte,  ou  la 
vraye  Representation  de  la  vie,  des  Mceurs,  de  la  Reli- 
gion, et  du  Service  des  Brahmines,  qui  demeurent  sur 
les  Costes  de  Choronaandel,"  Sec.  This  was  compiled 
before  the  middle  of  last  century,  by  Abraham  Roger, 
chaplain  of  the  Dutch  factory  at  Pullicate.  By  gaining 
the  confidence  of  an  intelligent  Brahmin,  he  acquired 
information  concerning  the  manners  and  religion  of  the 
Indians  more  authentic  and  extensive  than  was  known 
to  Europeans  prior  to  the  late  translations  from  the 


355  NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Sanskreet  language.  I  mention  this  book,  because  it 
seems  to  be  less  known  than  it  deserves  to  be.  There 
remains  now  no  doubt  with  respect  either  to  the  number 
or  the  functions  of  the  casts,  as  both  are  ascertained  from 
the  most  ancient  and  sacred  books  of  the  Hindoos,  and 
confirmed  by  the  accounts  of  their  own  institutions, 
given  by  Brahmins  eminent  for  their  learning.  Ac- 
cording to  them  the  different  casts  proceeded  from 
Brahma,  the  immediate  agent  of  the  creation  under  the 
Supreme  Power,  in  the  following  manner,  which  estab- 
lishes both  the  rank  which  they  were  to  hold,  and  the 
office  which  they  were  required  to  perform. 

The  Brahmin,  from  the  mouth  (wisdom)  :  to  pray,  to 
read,  to  instruct. 

The  Chehetree,  from  the  arms  (strength)  :  to  draw 
the  bow,  to  fight,  to  govern. 

The  Bice,  from  the  belly  or  thighs  (nourishment): 
to  provide  the  necessaries  of  life  by  agriculture  and 
traffic. 

The  Sooder,  from  the  feet  (subjection)  :  to  labour,  to 
serve. 

The  prescribed  occupations  of  all  these  classes  are 
essential  in  a  well-regulated  state.  Subordinate  to  them 
is  a  fifth,  or  adventitious  class,  denominated  Burrun 
Sunkur,  supposed  to  be  the  offspring  of  an  unlawful 
union  between  persons  of  different  casts.  These  are 
mostly  dealers  in  petty  articles  of  retail  trade.  Preface 
to  the  Code  of  Gentoo  Laws,  p.  xlvi.  and  xcix.  This 
adventitious  cast  is  not  mentioned,  as  far  as  I  know,  by 
any  European  author.  The  distinction  was  too  nice  to 
be  observed  by  them,  and  they  seem  to  consider  the 
members  of  this  cast  as  belonging  to  the  Sooder.  Be- 
sides these  acknowledged  casts  there  is  a  race  of  unhappy 
men,  denominated  on  the  Coromandel  coast  Pariars^ 
and  in  other  parts  of  India  Chandalas.  These  are  out- 
c^sts  from  their  original  order,  who,  by  their  miscoa- 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  S59 

duct  have  forfeited  all  the  privileges  of  it.  Their  con- 
dition is,  undoubtedly,  the  lowest  degradation  of  human 
nature.  No  person  of  any  cast  will  have  the  least  com- 
munication with  them.  Sonnerat,  torn.  i.  p.  55,  56. 
If  a  Pariar  approach  a  Nayr,  i.  e.  a  warrior  of  high 
cast  on  the  Malabar  coast,  he  may  put  him  to  death  with 
impunity.  Water  or  milk  are  considered  as  defiled 
even  by  their  shadow  passing  over  them,  and  cannot  be 
used  until  they  are  purified.  Ayeen  Akbery,  vol.  iii. 
p.  243.  It  is  almost  impossible  for  words  to  express 
the  sensation  of  vileness  that  the  name  of  Pariar  or 
Chandala  conveys  to  the  mind  of  a  Hindoo.  Every 
Hindoo  who  violates  the  rules  or  institutions  of  his 
cast  sinks  into  this  degraded  situation.  This  it  is 
which  renders  Hindoos  so  resolute  in  adhering  to  the 
institutions  of  their  tribe,  because  the  loss  of  cast  is,  to 
them,  the  loss  of  all  human  comfort  and  respectability  ; 
and  is  a  punishment,  beyond  comparison,  more  severe 
than  excommunication  in  the  most  triumphant  period  of 
papal  power. 

The.  four  original  casts  are  named,  and  their  functions 
described  in  the  Maharabat,  the  most  ancient  book  of 
the  Hindoos,  and  of  higher  authority  than  any  with 
which  Europeans  are  hitherto  acquainted.  Baghvat- 
Geeta,  p.  130.  The  same  distinction  of  casts  was 
known  to  the  author  of  Heeto  pades,  another  work  of 
considerable  antiquity,  translated  from  the  Sanskreet? 
p.  251. 

The  mention  of  one  circumstance  respecting  the 
distinction  of  casts  has  been  omitted  "in  the  text. 
Though  the  line  of  separation  be  so  drawn  as  to  render 
the  ascent  from  an  inferior  to  a  higher  cast  absolutely 
impossible,  and  it  would  be  regarded  as  a  most  enormous 
impiety,  if  one  in  a  lower  order  should  presume  to 
perform  any  function  belonging  to  those  of  a  superior 
castj  yet  in  certain  cases  the  Pundits  declare  it  to  be 


36o  NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

lawful  for  persons  of  a  high  class  to  exercise  some  of 
the  occupations  allotted  to  a  class  below  their  own, 
without  losing  their  cast  by  doing  so.  Pref.  of  Pundits 
to  the  Code  of  Gentoo  Laws,  p.  100.  Accordingly 
we  find  Brahmins  employed  in  the  service  of  their 
princes,  not  only  as  ministers  of  state,  Orme's  Frag- 
ments>  p.  207.  But  in  subordinate  stations.  Most  of 
the  officers  of  high  rank  in  the  army  of  Sevagi,  the 
founder  of  the  Mahratta  state,  were  Brahmins,  and 
some  of  them  Pundits  or  learned  Brahmins.  Ibid.  p.  97^ 
Hurry  Punt  and  Purseram  Bhow,  who  commanded  the 
Mahratta  forces,  which  acted  in  conjunction  with  the 
army  of  lord  Conwallis  against  Tippoo  Saib,  were 
Brahmins.  Many  seapoys  in  the  service  of  the  East 
India  company,  particularly  in  the  Bengal  presidency- 
are  of  the  Brahmin  cast. 

Another  fact  concerning  the  casts  deserves  notice. 
An  immense  number  of  pilgrims,  amounting  in  some 
years,  to  more  than  150,000,  visit  the  pagoda  of  Jag- 
gernaut  in  Orissa,  (one  of  the  most  ancient  and  most 
revered  places  of  Hindoo  worship,)  at  the  time  of 
the  annual  festival  in  honour  of  the  deity  to  whom  the 
temple  is  consecrated.  The  members  of  all  the  four 
casts  are  allowed  promiscuously  to  approach  the  altar  of 
the  idol,  and  seating  themselves  without  distinction,  eat 
indiscriminately  of  the  same  food.  This  seems  to  in- 
dicate some  remembrance  of  a  state  prior  to  the  institu- 
tions of  casts  when  all  men  were  considered  as  equal. 
I  have  not  such  information  as  enables  me  to  account 
for  a  practice  so  repugnant  to  the  first  ideas  and  princi- 
ples of  the  Hindoos,  either  sacred  or  civil.  Bernier, 
torn.  ii.  p.  102.  Tavernier.  book  ii.  c.  9.  Anquetil. 
Disc.  Prelim,  p.  81.  Sketches,  p.  96. 

Some  of  my  readers  must  have  observed,  that  I  have 
not  mentioned  the  numerous  orders  of  Indian  devotees, 
to  all  of  whom  European  writers  give  the  appellation 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  361 

of  Faquirs ;  a  name  by  which  the  Mahomedans  dis- 
tinguish fanatical  monks  of  their  own  religion.  The 
light  in  which  I  have  viewed  the  religious  institutions 
of  the  Hindoos,  did  not  render  it  necessary  that  I  should 
consider  the  Indian  Faquirs  particularly.  Their  num- 
ber, the  rigour  of  their  mortifications,  the  excruciating 
penances  which  they  voluntarily  undergo,  and  the  high 
opinion  which  the  people  entertain  of  their  sanctity, 
have  struck  all  travellers  who  had  visited  India,  and 
their  descriptions  of  them  are  well  known.  The  pow- 
erful influence  of  enthusiasm,  the  love  of  distinction, 
and  the  desire  of  obtaining  some  portion  of  that  reve- 
rence and  those  honours  which  the  Brahmins  are  born 
to  enjoy,  may  account  for  all  the  extraordinary  things 
which  they  do  and  suffer.  One  particular  concerning 
them  merits  notice.  This  order  of  devotees  appears  to 
have  been  very  ancient  in  India.  The  description  of 
the  Germani^  which  Strabo  takes  from  Megasthenes, 
applies,  almost  in  every  circumstance,  to  the  modern 
Faquirs,  lib.  xv.  p.  1040.  B. 


NOTE   LIX.  p.  202. 


What  I  have  asserted  in  the  text  is  in  general  well 
founded.  It  is  the  opinion,  however,  of  gentlemen  who 
have  seen  much  of  India,  and  who  observed  all  they  saw 
with  a  discerning  eye,  that  the  conquests  both  of  the 
Mahomedans  and  of  the  Europeans  have  had  some  effect 
upon  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  natives.  They 
imagine  that  the  dress  which  the  Hindoos  now  wear, 
the  turban,  the  jummah,  and  long  drawers,  is  an  imitation, 
of  that  worn  by  their  Mahomedan  conquerors.  The 
ancient  dress  of  the  Indians,  as  described  by  A.rrian, 

3  B 


362  NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Hist.  Indie,  c.    16.   was  a  muslin   cloth   thrown  loosely 
about  their  shoulders,  a  muslin  shirt  reaching  to  the  mid- 
dle  of  the  leg,  and  their  beards  were  dyed  various  co- 
lours ;  which  is  not  the  same  with  that  used  at  present. 
The  custom  of  secluding  women,  and  the  strictness  with 
which   they  are  confined,  is  likewise  supposed  to   have 
been  introduced  by  the  Mahomedans.   This  supposition 
is  in  some  measure  confirmed  by  the  drama  of  Sacontala, 
translated  from  the  Sanskreet.      In  that  play,  several  fe- 
male characters  are  introduced,  who  mingle  in  society, 
and  converse  as  freely  with  men,  as  women  are  accus- 
tomed to  do  in  Europe,      The  author  we  may  presume, 
describes  the  manners,  and  adheres   to  the   customs  of 
his  own  age.      But  while  I   mention  this   remark,  it  is 
proper,  likewise,  to  observe,  that,  from  a  passage  in  Stra- 
bo,  there  is  reason  to  think,  that  in  the  age  of  Alexander 
the  Great,  women  in  India  were  guarded  with  the  same 
^ealous  attention  as  at  present.      "  When  their  princes,'7 
•(says  he,  copying  Magasthenes,)  "  set  out  upon  a  public 
hunt,  they  are  accompanied  by  a  number  of  their  wo- 
men,  but  along  the  road  in    which   they  travel,  ropes 
are   stretched   on  each  side,  and  if  any  man  approach 
near  to  them,    he  is  instantly  put   to  death."      Lib.  xv. 
p.  1037.  A.    In  some  parts  of  India,  where  the  original 
manners  of  the  people  may  be  supposed  to    subsist  in 
greatest  purity,  particularly  in  the  high  country  towards 
the  sources  of  the  Indus,    women  of  rank  reside  in  pri- 
vate apartments,  secluded  from  society,   Foster's  Travels 
vol.  i.  p.  228.      Women  even  of   the  Brahmin  cast  ap- 
pear in  the  streets  without  a  veil ;  and  it  is  only,  as  I 
am  informed,  in  the  houses    of  persons  of  high  rank  or 
great  opulence  that  a  distinct  quarter  or   haram   is  al- 
lotted to  the  women.      The  influence  of  European  man- 
ners begins  to  be  apparent  among  the  Hindoos  who  re- 
side in  the  town   of   Calcutta.     Some    of   them    drive 
about  in  English  chariots,  sit  upon  chairs,  and  furnish 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS,  363 

their  houses  with  mirrors.  Many  circumstances  might 
be  mentioned,  were  this  the  proper  place,  which,  it  is 
probable,  will  contribute  to  the  progress  of  this  spirit  of 
imitation. 


NOTE  LX.  p.  203, 


It  is  amusing  to  observe  how  exactly  the  ideas  of  an 
intelligent  Asiatic  coincide  with  those  of  the  Europeans 
on  this  subject.  "  In  reflecting,  says  he,  upon  the  po- 
verty of  Turan  [the  countries  beyond  the  Oxus]  and 
Arabia,  I  was  at  first  at  a  loss  to  assign  a  reason  why 
these  countries  have  never  been  able  to  retain  wealth^ 
whilst  on  the  contrary,  it  is  daily  increasing  in  Indostan. 
Timur  carried  into  Turan  the  riches  of  Turkey, 
Persia,  and  Indostan,  but  they  are  ail  dissipated  ;  andj 
during  the  reigns  of  the  four  first  califs,  Turkey^ 
Persia,  part  of  Arabia,  Ethiopia,  Egypt,  and  Spain^ 
were  their  tributaries ;  but  still  they  were  not  rich. 
It  is  evident,  then,  that  this  dissipation  of  the  riches 
of  a  state,  must  have  happened  either  from  extraordi- 
nary drains,  or  from  aomc  defect  in  the  governments 
Indostan  has  been  frequently  plundered  by  foreign  in- 
vaders, and  not  one  of  its  kings  ever  gained  for  it 
any  acquisition  of  wealth;  neither  has  the  country 
many  mines  of  gold  and  silver,  and  yet  Indostan 
abounds  in  money  and  every  other  kind  of  wealth* 
The  abundance  of  specie  is  undoubtedly  owing  to 
the  large  importation  of  gold  and  silver  in  the  ships  of 
Europe,  and  other  nations,  many  of  whom  bring  ready 
money  in  exchange  for  the  manufactures  and  natu- 
ral productions  of  the  country.  If  this  is  not  the 
cause  of  the  prosperous  state  of  Indostan,  it  must  be 


•J64  NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

owing  to  the  peculiar  blessing  of  God."  Memoirs 
of  Kojeh  Abdul-kureera,  a  Cashmeerian  of  distinction, 
p.  42. 


NOTE  LXI.  p.  209. 


That  the  monarchs  of   India  were   the  sole  proprie- 
tors of  land,    is  asserted  in  most  explicit   terms  by  the 
ancients.  The  people,  (say  they,)  pay  a  land-tax  to  their 
kings,  because   the   whole  kingdom  is  regal  property, 
Strabo,  lib.  xv.  p.  1030.  A.    Diod.  Sicul.  lib.  ii.  p.  153. 
This  was  not  peculiar  to  India.      In  all  the  great  mo- 
narchies of  the  East,  the  sole  property  of  land  seems  to 
be  vested  in  the  sovereign  as  lord  paramount.      Accord- 
ing to  Chardin,    this  is   the  state  of  property  in  Persia, 
and  lands  were  let  by  the  monarch  to  the  farmers  who 
cultivated  them,    on  conditions  nearly   resembling  those 
granted  to    the   Indian   Ryots.      Voyages,  torn.    iii.  p* 
339,   &c.   4to.      M.  Volney   gives  a   similar  account  of 
the  tenure  by  which  lands    are  held  in  one  of  the  great 
provinces  of  the  Turkish  empire.      Voy.  en  Syrie,  Sec* 
torn.   ii.   p.  369,  Sec.     The  pitcisc   mode,  however,  in 
which  the  Ryots  of  Indostan  held   their  possessions,  is 
a  circumstance  in  its  ancient  political  constitution,  with 
respect  to  which  gentlemen  of  superior  discernment,  who 
have  resided  long  in  the  country,  and  filled  some  of  the 
highest  stations  in  government,  have  formed  very  differ- 
ent  opinions.      Some  have  imagined  that  grants  of  land 
were  made  by  the  sovereign  to   villages  or  small   com- 
munities, the  inhabitants  of  which,   under  the  direction, 
of  their  own  chiefs  or  heads- men,  laboured  it  in  com- 
mon, and  divided  the  produce  of  it  among  them  in  cer- 
tain proportions.      Descript.  de  1'Ind.  par  M.  Bernoulli, 
torn,  ii,  223,  &c.     Others  maintain,  that  the  property  of 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  365 

land  has  been  transferred  from  the  crown  to  hereditary 
officers  of  great  eminence  and  power,   denominated  Ze- 
mindars, who  collected  the  rents  from  the  Ryots,  and 
parcel  out  the  lands  among  them.      Others  contend,  that 
the  office  of  the  Zemindars  is  temporary  and  ministerial, 
that  they  are  merely   collectors  of  revenue,  removeable 
at  pleasure,   and   the  tenure  by  which  the  Ryots  hold 
their  possessions  is  derived  immediately  from  the  sove- 
reign.    This  last  opinion  is  supported  with  great  ability 
by  Mr.  Grant,  in  an  Inquiry  into  the  Nature  of  Zenrin- 
dary   tenures   in  the    landed  property  of  Bengal,    &c. 
This  question  still  continues  to  be  agitated  in  Bengal, 
and   such   plausible   arguments  have  been  produced  in 
support  of  the  different  opinions,    that  although  it     be 
a  point  extremely  interesting,  as   the    future  system  of 
British  finance  in  India  appears  likely  to  hinge,  in  an 
essential   degree,  upon  it,  persons  well  acquainted  with 
the  state  of  India,  have  not  been  able   to  form  a  final, 
and  satisfactory  opinion  on  this  subject.      Captain  Kirk- 
Patrick's   Introd.    to   the   Institutes  of  Ghazan   Khan, 
New  Asiatic  Miscell.  No.  II.  p.  130.    Though  the  sen- 
timents of  the  committee  of  revenue,  composed  of  per- 
sons eminent  for  their  abilities,    lean  to    a   conclusion 
against  the  hereditary  right  of  the  Zemindars  in  the  soil, 
yet  the  supreme  council,  in  the  year  1786,  declined,  for 
good  reasons,  to  give  any  decisive  judgment  on  a  sub- 
ject of  such  magnitude.^-This  note  was  sent  to  the  press 
before   I   had  it  in  my  power  to  peruse   Mr.  Rouse's 
ingenious  and  instructive   Dissertation   concerning   the 
landed  property  of  Bengal.      In  it  he  adopts  an  opinion 
contrary  to  that  of  Mr.  Grant,  and  maintains,  with  that 
candour  and  liberality  of  sentiment   which   are  always 
conspicuous  where  there  is  no  other  object  in  view  but 
the  discovery  of  truth,  that  the  Zemindars  of  Bengal  pos- 
sess their  landed  property  by  hereditary  right.   Were  I 
nossessed  of  such  knowledge  either  of  the  state  of  India, 


366  NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS, 

or  of  the  system  of  administration  established  there,  as 
would  be  requisite  for  comparing  these  different  theories, 
and  determining  which    of   them  merits  the  preference, 
the  subject  of  my  researches  does  not  render  it  necessary 
to  enter  into  such  a  disquisition.      I  imagine,  however, 
that  the   state    of   landed  property    in  India    might   be 
greatly  illustrated  by  an  accurate  comparison  of  it  with 
the   nature   of  feudal   tenures;    and   I   apprehend    that 
there  might  be  traced  there  a  succession  of  changes  tak- 
ing place  in  much  the  same  order  as  has  been  observed 
in  Europe,  from  which  it  might  appear,  that   the   pos- 
session of  land  was   granted  at  first  during  pleasure,  af- 
terwards for  life,   and  at  length  became  perpetual   and 
hereditary  property.      But  even  under   this   last  form, 
when  land  is  acquired  either  by  purchase  or  inheritance, 
the  manner  in  which  the  right  of  property  is   confirmed 
and    rendered    complete,    in  Europe    by   a   charter,   in 
India   by  a  sunnud  from  the  sovereign,    seems  to  point 
out  what    was   its  original  state.      According  to   each 
of  the   theories   which    I    have  mentioned,    the  tenure 
and   condition    of  the   Ryots   nearly  resemble   the  de- 
scription which  I  have  given  of  them.      Their  state,  we 
learn  from    the  account  of  intelligent  observers,    is  as 
happy  and  independent  as  falls  to  the  lot  of  any  race  of 
men    employed    in  the  cultivation  of  the   earth.      The 
ancient  Greek  and  Roman  writers,  whose  acquaintance 
with  the  interior  parts  of  India  was  very  imperfect,  re- 
present the  fourth  part  of  the  annual   produce  of  land 
as  the  general  average  of  rent  paid  to    the    sovereign. 
Upon  the  authority  of  a  popular  author  who  flourished 
in  India  prior  to  the   Christian   era,   we    may  conclude 
that  the  sixth  part  of  the  people's  income  was,  in  his  time, 
the  usual  portion  of  the  sovereign.      Sacontala,  act.  V. 
p.  53.      It  is  now  known  that  what  the  sovereign  re- 
ceives from  land  varies  greatly  in  different  parts  of  the 
country,  and  is  regulated  by  the  fertility  or  barrenness 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  367 

of  the  soil,  the  nature  of  the  climate,  the  abundance 
or  scarcity  of  water,  and  many  other  obvious  circum- 
stances. By  the  account  given  of  it,  I  should  imagine 
that,  in  some  districts,  it  has  been  raised  beyond  its 
due  proportion.  One  circumstance  with  respect  to  the 
administration  of  revenue  in  Bengal  merits  notice,  as  it 
redounds  to  the  honour  of  the  emperor  Akber,  the 
wisdom  of  whose  government  I  have  often  had  occasion 
to  celebrate.  A  general  and  regular  assessment  of 
revenue  in  Bengal  was  formed  in  his  reign.  All  the 
lands  were  then  valued,  and  the  rent  of  each  inhabit- 
ant and  of  each  village  ascertained.  A  regular  gra- 
dation of  accounts  was  established.  The  rents  of  the 
different  inhabitants  who  lived  in  one  neighbourhood 
being  collected  together,  formed  the  account  of  a  village  ; 
the  rents  of  several  villages  being  next  collected  into  one 
view,  formed  the  accounts  of  a  larger  portion  of  land. 
The  aggregate  of  these  accounts  xhibited  the  re  ;<  of 
a  district,  and  the  sum  total  of  the  rents  of  all  the 
districts  in  Bengal,  formed  the  account  of  the  revenue 
of  the  whole  province.  From  the  reign  of  Akber  to 
the  government  of  JafFeer  Ali  Cawn,  A.  D.  1757,  the 
annual  amount  of  revenue,  and  the  modes  of  levying  it, 
continued  with  little  variation.  But  in  order  to  raise  the 
sum  which  he  had  stipulated  to  pay  the  English  on  his 
elevation,  he  departed  from  the  wise  arrangement's  of 
Akber ;  many  new  modes  of  assessment  were  introduced, 
and  exactions  multiplied* 


NOTE  LXIJ.  p.  211. 


I  shall  mention  only  one  instance  of  their  attention 
to  this  useful  regulation  of  police.  Lahore,  in  the 
Panjab,  is  distant  from  Agra,  the  ancient  capital  of  In* 


368  NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS 

dostan,  five  hundred  miles.  Along  each  side  of  the  road 
between  these  two  great  cities,  there  is  planted  a  con- 
tinued row  of  shady  trees,  forming  an  avenue,  to  which 
(whether  we  consider  its  extent,  its  beauty,  or  utility  in  a 
hot  climate)  there  is  nothing  similar  in  any  country. 
Rennell's  Memoir,  p.  69. 


NOTE  LXIII.  p.  215. 


We  cannot  place  the  equitable  and  mild  government 
of  Akber  in  a  point  of  view  more  advantageous,  than 
by  contrasting  it  with  the  conduct  of  other  Mahomedan 
princes.  In  no  country  did  this  contrast  ever  appeal- 
more  striking  than  in  India.  In  the  thousandth  year 
of  the  Christian  era,  Mahmud  of  Ghazna,  to  whose 
dominion  were  subjected  the  same  countries  which 
formed  the  ancient  kingdom  of  Bactria,  invaded  In- 
dostan.  Every  step  of  his  progress  in  it  was  marked  with 
blood  and  desolation.  The  most  celebrated  pagodas, 
the  ancient  monuments  of  Hindoo  devotion  and  mag- 
nificence, were  destroyed,  the  ministers  of  religion  were 
massacred,  and  with  undistinguishing  ferocity  the  coun- 
try was  laid  waste,  and  the  cities  were  plundered  and 
burnt.  About  four  hundred  years  after  Mahmud,  Ti- 
mur,  or  Tamerlane,  a  conqueror  of  higher  fame,  turned 
his  irresistible  arms  against  Indostan  ;  and  though  born 
in  an  age  more  improved,  he  not  only  equalled,  but  of- 
ten so  far  surpassed  the  cruel  deeds  of  Mahmud,  as  to 
be  justly  branded  with  the  odious  name  of  the  "  Destroy- 
ing Prince,"  which  was  given  to  him  by  the  Hin- 
doos, the  undeserving  victims  of  his  rage.  A  rapid, 
but  striking  description  of  their  devastations  may  be 
found  in  Mr.  Orme's  Dissertation  on  the  Establishments 
made  by  the  Mahomedan  conquerors  in  Indostan.  A 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  369 

more  full  account  of  them  is  given  by  Mr.  Gibbon, 
vol.  v.  p.  646.  vol.  vi.  p.  339,  &c.  The  arrogant  con- 
tempt with  which  bigoted  Mahomedans  view  all  the 
nations  who  have  not  embraced  the  religion  of  the  pro- 
phet will  account  for  the  unrelenting  rigour  of  Mahmud 
and  Timur  towards  the  Hindoos,  and  greatly  enhances 
the  merit  of  the  tolerant  spirit  and  moderation  with 
which  Akber  governed  his  subjects.  What  impres- 
sion the  mild  administration  of  Akber  made  upon 
the  Hindoos,  we  learn  from  a  beautiful  letter  of  Jess- 
want  Sing,  rajah  of  Joudpore  to  Aurengzebe,  his 
fanatical  and  persecuting  successor,  "  Your  royal  an- 
cestor, Akber,  whose  throne  is  now  in  heaven,  con- 
ducted the  affairs  of  this  empire  in  equity  and  firm 
security  for  the  space  of  fifty-txvo  years,  preserving 
every  tribe  of  men  in  ease  and  happiness;  whether 
they  were  followers  of  Jesus,  or  of  Moses,  of  David, 
or  of  Mahomed;  were  they  Brahmins,  were  they  of 
the  sect  of  Dharians,  which  denies  the  eternity  of 
matter,  or  of  that  which  ascribes  the  existence  of  the 
world  to  chance,  they  all  equally  enjoyed  his  counte- 
nance and  favour ;  insomuch  that  his  people,  in  gra- 
titude for  the  indiscriminate  protection  which  he  af- 
forded them,  distinguished  him  by  the  appellation  of 

Juggot    Grozv,    Guardian    of    Mankind. If    your 

majesty  places  any  faith  in  those  books,  by  distinction 
called  divine,  you  will  there  be  instructed  that  God 
is  the  God  of  all  mankind,  not  the  God  of  Mahome- 
dans alone.  The  Pagan  and  the  Mussulman  are 
equally  in  his  presence.  Distinctions  of  colours  are 
of  his  ordination.  It  is  he  who  gives  existence0 
In  your  temples,  to  his  name,  the  voice  is  raised  in 
prayer ;  in  a  house  of  images  where  the  bell  is  shaken, 
still  he  is  the  object  of  adoration.  To  vilify  the 
religion  and  customs  of  other  men,  is  to  set  at  naught 
the  pleasure  of  the  Almighty.  When  we  deface 
3  c 


3-70  NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS, 

a  picture,  we  naturally  incur  the  resentment  of  the 
painter;  and  justly  has  the  poet  said,  "  Presume  not 
10  arraign  or  to  scrutinize  the  various  works  of  power 
divine."  For  this  valuable  communication  we  are 
indebted  to  Mr.  Orme,  Fragments,  notes,  p.  xcvii. 
I  have  been  assured  by  a  gentleman  who  has  read  this 
letter  in  the  original,  that  the  translation  is  not  only 
faithful  but  elegant. 


NOTE  LXIV.  p.  225. 


I  have  not  attempted  a  description  of  any  subterrane- 
ous excavations  but  those  of  Elephanta,  because  none  of 
them  have  been  so  often  visited,  or  so  carefully  inspected,, 
In  several  parts  of  India,  there  are,  however,  stupendous 
works  of  a  similar  nature.  The  extent  and  magnificence 
of  the  excavations  in  the  island  of  Salsetta  are  such,  thai 
the  artist  employed  by  governor  Boon  to  make  drawings 
of  them,  asserted  that  it  would  require  the  labour  of 
forty  thousand  men  for  forty  years  to  finish  them.  Ar- 
chaelogia,  vol.  vii.  p.  336.  Loose  as  this  mode  of  esti- 
mation may  be,  it  conveys  an  idea  of  the  impression 
which  the  view  of  them  made  upon  his  mind.  The  pa- 
godas of  Ellore,  eighteen  miles  from  Aurungabad,  are 
likewise  hewn  out  of  the  solid  rock,  and  if  they  do  not 
equal  those  of  Elephanta  and  Salsetta  in  magnitude,  they 
surpass  them  far  in  their  extent,  and  number.  M.  The- 
venot,  who  first  gave  any  description  of  these  singular 
mansions,  asserts,  that  for  above  two  leagues  all  around 
the  mountain  nothing  is  to  be  seen  but  pagodas.  Voy. 
part  iii.  chap.  44.  They  were  examined  at  greater  leisure 
and  with  the  more  attention  by  M.  Anquetil  du  Perron; 
but  as  his  long  description  of  them  is  not  accompanied 
with  any  plan  or  drawing,  I  cannot  convey  a  distinct 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS,  371 

idea  of  the  whole.  It  is  evident,  however,  that  they  are 
the  works  of  a  powerful  people,  and  among  the  innu- 
merable figures  in  sculpture  with  which  the  walls  are 
covered,  all  the  present  objects  of  Hindoo  worship  may 
be  distinguished.  Zend-avesta.  Disc.  Prelim,  p.  233. 
There  are  remarkable  excavations  in  a  mountain  at  Mava- 
lipuram  near  Sadras.  This  mountain  is  well  known  on 
the  Coromandel  coast  by  the  name  of  the  Seven  Pagodas. 
A  good  description  of  the  works  there  which  are  magni- 
ficent and  of  high  antiquity  is  given.  Asiat.  Researches, 
vol.  i.  p.  145,  &cc.  Many  other  instances  of  similar 
works  might  be  produced  if  it  were  necessary.  What  I 
have  asserted,  p.  225,  concerning  the  elegance  of  some  of 
the  ornaments  in  Indian  buildings,  is  confirmed  by  co- 
lonel Call,  chief  engineer  at  Madras,  who  urges  this  as  a 
proof  of  the  early  and  high  civilization  of  the  Indians. 
"  It  may  safely  be  pronounced,'  says  he,  "  that  no  part 
of  the  world  has  more  marks  of  antiquity  for  arts, 
sciences,  and  civilization,  than  the  peninsula  of  India, 
from  the  Ganges  to  cape  Comorin.  I  think  the 
carvings  on  some  of  the  pagodas  and  choultries,  as 
well  as  the  grandeur  of  the  work,  exceeds  any  thing 
executed  now-a-days,  not  only  for  the  delicacy  of  the 
chisel,  but  the  expense  or  construction,  considering,  in 
many  instances,  to  what  distances  the  component  parts 
were  carried,  and  to  what  heights  raised."  Philoso- 
phical Transactions,  vol.  Ixii;  p.  354»  I  am  happy  to 
find  my  idea,  that  the  first  temples  erected  by  the  Hin- 
doos were  formed  upon  the  model  of  those  caverns  in 
which  the  rites  of  religion  were  originally  celebrated, 
confirmed  and  more  fully  unfolded  by  Mr.  Hodges.  In 
a  short  dissertation  on  the  primitive  standard,  or  pro- 
totype of  the  different  styles  of  architecture,  viz.  the 
Egyptian,  Hindoo,  Moorish,  Gothic,  and  Chinese,  he 
has  examined  and  illustrated  that  curious  subject  with 
great  ingenuity.  Travels  in  India,  p.  63 — 77. 


372  NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


NOTE   LXV.  p.  229. 


India,  says  Strabo,  produces  a  variety  of  substances 
which  dye  the  most  admirable  colours.  That  the  Indicum 
which  produced  the  beautiful  blue  colour,  is  the  same 
with  the  Indigo  of  the  moderns,  we  may  conclude  not 
only  from  the  resemblance  of  the  name,  and  the  similarity 
of  the  effects,  but  from  the  description  given  by  Pliny  in 
the  passage  which  I  have  quoted  in  the  text.  He  knew 
that  it  was  a  preparation  of  a  vegetable  substance,  though 
he  was  ill  informed  both  concerning  the  plant  itself,  and 
the  process  by  which  it  was  fitted  for  use ;  which  will 
not  appear  surprising,  when  we  recollect  the  account 
formerly  given  of  the  strange  ignorance  of  the  ancients 
with  respect  to  the  origin  and  preparation  of  silk.  From 
the  colour  of  indigo,  in  the  form  in  which  it  was  im- 
ported, it  is  denominated  by  some  authors,  Atramcntum 
Indicwn  and  Indicum  Nigrum,  Salmas.  Exercit.  p.  180, 
and  is  mentioned  under  the  last  of  these  names,  among 
the  articles  of  importation  from  India.  Peripl.  Mar. 
Erythr.  p.  22.  The  colour  of  the  modern  indigo,  when 
undiluted,  resembles  that  of  the  ancient  indicum,  being 
so  intensely  coloured  so  as  to  appear  black.  D'elaval's 
Experim.  Inquiry  into  the  cause  of  the  Changes  of  Co- 
lours, Pref.  p.  xxiii.  Indigo  is  the  principal  dye-stuff 
used  by  the  natives  of  Sumatra,  and  is  much  cultivated 
in  that  island ;  but  the  mode  of  preparing  it  differs  from 
that  which  is  common  among  the  people  of  Indostan. 
Marsden.  Hist,  of  Sumatra,  p.  77.  There  has  been  lately 
found  in  the  circar  of  Rajamundry  a  new  species  of 
indigo,  denominated  the  Tree  Indigo,  which,  as  it  grows 
wild  and  in  great  abundance,  promises  to  be  a  discovery 
of  considerable  use.  Oriental  Repertory,  No.  1.  p.  39, &c. 
The  Gum  Lacca,  used  in  dying  a  red  colour,  was  likewise 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  373 

known  to  the  ancients,  and  by  the  same  name  which  it 
now  bears.  Salamas.  Exercit.  p.  810.   This  valuable  sub- 
stance, of  such  extensive  utility  in  painting,    dying,  ja- 
panning, varnishing  and  in  the  manufacture  of  sealing- 
wax,  is  the  production  of  a  very  minute  insect.      These 
insects  fix  themselves  upon  the  succulent  extremities  of 
the  branches  of  certain  trees,   and  are  soon  glued  to  the 
place   on  which  they  settle,  by  a   thick    pellucid  liquid 
which  exudes  from  their  bodies,   the  gradual  accumula- 
tion of  which  forms  a  complete  cell  for  each  insect,  which 
is  the  tomb  of  the  parent,  and  the  birth-place  of  its  off- 
spring. This  glutinous  substance,  with  which  the  branch- 
es of  trees  are  entirely  covered,  is  the  gum-lacca.    An  ac- 
count of  its  formation,   nature,   and  use,  is  given  in  the 
Philos.  Trans,  vol.  Ixxi.  part  ii.  p.  374.  in  a  concise  ac- 
curate, and  satisfactory  manner.    Some  curious  observa- 
tions upon  this   insect  are  published  by  Mr.  Roxburgh, 
who  cultivates  the  study  of  natural  history  in  India  with 
great  assiduity  and  success.  Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  ii. 
p.  361.   It  is  remarkable  that  Ctesias  seems  to  have  re- 
ceived an  account  tolerably  distinct  of  the  insect  by  which 
the  guma-lacca  is  produced,  and  celebrates   the   beauty 
of  the  colour  which  it  dyes.   Excerpta  ex  Indie,  ad  calc. 
Herodot.  edit.   Wesseling,  p.  830.   Indian  dyers  was  the 
ancient  name  of  those  who  dyed  either  the  fine  blue  or 
the  fine  red,    which  points  out  the  country  whence  the 
materials  they  used  were  brought.   Salmas.   ib.  p.   810* 
From  their  dying  cotton  stuffs  with  different  colours,  it 
is  evident  that  the  ancient  Indians  must  have  made  some 
considerable  proficiency  in  chemical  knowledge.     Pliny, 
lib.  xxxv.  c.  ii.  §  42.  gives  an  account  of  this  art  as  far 
as  it  was  known  anciently.      It   is  precisely   the   same 
with  that  now  practised  in  calico-printing. 


374  NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


NOTE  LXVI.  p.  240. 


As  Sanskreet  literature  is  altogether  anew  acquisition 
to  Europe,  Baghvat-Geeta,  the  first  translation  from  that 
language,  having  been  published  so  late  as  A.  D.  1785,  it 
is  intimately  connected  with  the  subject  of  my  inquiries, 
and  may  afford  entertainment  to  some  of  my  readers, 
after  having  reviewed  in  the  text,  with  a  greater  degree 
of  critical  attention,  the  two  Sanskreet  works  most  worthy 
of  notice,  to  give  here  a  succinct  account  of  other  compo- 
sitions in  that  tongue  with  which  we  have  been  made 
acquainted.  The  extensive  use  of  the  Sanskreet  language 
is  a  circumstance  which  merits  particular  attention. 
"The  grand  source  of  Indian  literature,"  (says  Mr.  Hal- 
hed,  the  first  Englishman  who  acquired  the  knowledge 
of  Sanskreet,)  u  the  parent  of  almost  every  dialect  from 
the  Persian  gulf  to  the  China  seas,  is  the  Sanskreet,  a 
language  of  the  most  venerable  and  unfathomable  anti- 
quity; which,  although,  at  present,  shut  up  in  the 
libraries  of  Brahmins,  and  appropriated  solely  to  the 
records  of  their  religion,  appears  to  have  been  current 
over  most  of  the  Oriental  world ;  and  traces  of  its  ori- 
ginal extent  may  still  be  discovered  in  almost  every  dis- 
trict of  Asia.  I  have  been  often  astonished  to  find  the 
similitude  of  Sanskreet  words  with  those  of  Persian 
and  Arabic,  and  even  of  Latin  and  Greek ;  and 
those  not  in  technical  and  metaphorical  terms,  which  the 
mutation  of  refined  arts  and  improved  manners  might 
have  occasionally  introduced,  but  in  the  ground-work 
of  language,  in  monosyllables,  in  the  names  of  numbers^ 
and  the  appellations  of  such  things  as  would  be  first 
discriminated  on  the  immediate  dawn  of  civilization. 
The  resemblance  which  may  be  observed  in  the  charac- 
ters on  the  medals  and  signets  of  various  districts  of 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS,  375 

Asia,  the  light  which  they  reciprocally  reflect  upon 
each  other,  and  the  general  analogy  which  they  all  bear 
to  the  same  grand  prototype,  afford  another  ample  field 
for  curiosity.  The  coins  of  Assam,  Napaul,  Cash- 
meere,  and  many  other  kingdoms,  are  all  stamped  with 
Sanskreet  characters,  and  mostly  contain  allusions  to 
the  old  Sanskreet  mythology.  The  same  conformity 
I  have  observed  on  the  impression  of  seals  from  Bootan 
and  Thibet.  A  collateral  inference  may  likewise  be 
deduced  from  the  peculiar  arrangement  of  the  Sans- 
kreet alphabet,  so  very  different  from  that  of  any  other 
quarter  of  the  world.  This  extraordinary  mode  of 
combination  still  exists  in  the  greatest  part  of  the 
East,  from  the  Indus  to  Pegu,  in  dialects  now  appa- 
rently unconnected,  and  in  characters  completely  dis- 
similar ;  and  it  is  a  forcible  argument  that  they  are 
all  derived  from  the  same  source.  Another  channel 
of  speculation  presents  itself  in  the  names  of  persons 
and  places,  of  titles  and  dignities,  which  are  open  to 
general  notice,  and  in  which,  to  the  farthest  limits  of 
Asia,  may  be  found  manifest  traces  of  the  Sanskreet." 
Preface  to  the  Grammar  of  the  Bengal  language,  p.  3. 
After  this  curious  account  of  the  Sanskreet  tongue,  I 
proceed  to  enumerate  the  works  which  have  been  trans- 
lated from  it,  besides  the  two  mentioned  in  the  text. — 
1.  To  Mr.  Wilkins  we  are  indebted  for  Heeto-pades  or 
Amicable  Instruction,  in  a  series  of  connected  fables,  in- 
terspersed with  moral,  prudential  and  political  maxims. 
This  work  is  in  such  high  esteem  throughout  the  East, 
that  it  has  been  translated  into  every  language  spoken, 
there.  It  did  not  escape  the  notice  of  the  emperor  Akber, 
attentive  to  every  thing  that  could  contribute  to  promote 
useful  knowledge.  He  directed  his  vizier,  Abul  Fazel,  to 
put  it  into  a  style  suited  to  all  capacities,  and  to  illustrate 
the  obscure  passages  in  it,  which  he  accordingly  did, 
and  gave  it  the  title  of,  The  Criterion  of  Wisdom,  At 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

length  these  fables  made  their  way  into  Europe,  and  have 
been  circulated  there  with  additions  and  alterations,  under 
the  names  of  Pilpay  and  Esop.  Many  of  the  Sanskreet 
apologues  are  ingenious  and  beautiful  and  have  been  co- 
pied or  imitated  by  the  fabulists  of  other  nations.  But 
in  some  of  them  the  characters  of  the  animals  introduced 
are  very  ill  sustained ;  to  describe  a  tyger  as  extremely 
devout,  and  practising  charity,  and  other  religious  duties, 
p.  16,  or  an  old  mouse  well  read  in  the  Neetee  Sastras,  i.  e. 
systems  of  morality  and  policy,  p.  24 :  a  cat  reading  re- 
ligious books,  p.  35,  &c.  discovers  a  want  of  taste,  and 
an  inattention  to  propriety.  Many  of  the  moral  sayings, 
if  considered  as  detached  maxims,  are  founded  upon  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  life  and  manners,  and  convey 
instruction  with  elegant  simplicity.  But  the  attempt 
of  the  author  to  form  his  work  into  a  connected  series  of 
fables,  and  hia  mode  of  intervening  with  them  such  a 
number  6f  moral  reflections  in  prose  and  in  verse,  renders 
the  structure  of  the  whole  so  artificial  that  the  perusal  of 
it  becomes  often  unpleasant.  Akber  was  so  sensible  of 
this,  that,  among  other  instructions,  he  advises  his  vizier 
to  abridge  the  long  digressions  in  that  work.  By  these 
strictures  it  is  far  from  my  inattention  to  detract  in  the 
smallest  degree  from  the  merit  of  Mr.  Wilkins.  His 
country  is  much  indebted  to  him  for  having  opened  a 
new  source  of  science  and  taste.  The  celebrity  of  the 
Heeto-pades,  as  well  as  its  intrinsic  merit,  notwithstand- 
ing the  defects  which  I  have  mentioned,  justify  his 
choice  of  it,  as  a  work  worthy  of  being  made  known  to 
Europe  in  its  original  form.  From  reading  this  and  his 
other  translations,  no  man  will  refuse  him  the  praise,  to 
which  he  modestly  confines  his  pretensions,  "  of  having 
drawn  a  picture  which  we  suppose  to  be  a  true  like- 
ness, although  we  are  unacquainted  with  the  original." 
Pref.  p.  xiv.— -2.  In  the  first  number  of  the  New  Asiatic 
Miscellany,  we  have  a  translation  of  a  celebrated  composi- 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  377 

tion  in  the  East,  known  by  the  title   of  the  Five   Gems. 
It    consists  of  stanzas   by    five  poets   who  attended  the 
court  of  Abissura,  king  of  Bengal.      Some  of  these  stan- 
zas are  simple  and  elegant. — 3.  An  ode  translated  from 
Wulli ;    in  which  that  extravagance  of  fancy,  and  those 
far-fetched  and  unnatural  conceits,  which  so  often  disgust 
Europeans  with   the  poetical  compositions  of  the  East, 
abound  too    much.      The  editor  has  not  informed  us  to 
whose  knowledge  of  the  Sanskreet  we  are  indebted  for 
these  two  translations. — 4<.  Some  original  grants  of  land, 
of  very  ancient  dates,  translated  by   Mr.  Wilkins.      It 
may  seem  odd,   that  a  charter  or   legal   conveyance  of 
property  should  be  ranked  among  the  literary  composi- 
tions of  any  people.      But  so  widely  do  the  manners  of 
the   Hindoos    differ  from  those    of  Europe,  that  as  our 
lawyers   multiply  words  and  clauses,  in  order  to  render 
a  grant  complete,  and  to  guard  against  every  thing  that 
may  invalidate  it,  the  Pundits  seem  to  despatch  the  legal 
part  of  the  deed  with  brevity,  but,  in   a   long  preamble 
and  conclusion,  make  an  extraordinary  display  of  their 
own  learning,    eloquence,  and  powers   of   composition, 
both  in  prose  and  verse.     The  preamble  to  one  of  these 
deeds  is  an  encomium  of  the  monarch  who  grants  the 
land,  in  a  bold  strain  of  eastern  exaggeration :   "  Whea 
his   innumerable  army  marched,  the  heavens   were  so 
filled  with  the  dust  of  their  feet  that   the  birds   of  the 
air  could  rest  upon  it." — u  His  elephants  moved  ?like 
walking   mountains,  and    the  earth  oppressed   by  their 
weight  mouldered  into  dust."     It  concludes  with  de- 
nouncing vengeance  against  those  who  should  venture  to 
infringe  this  grant  :  u  Riches  and  the  life  of  man  are 
as  transient  as  drops  of  water  upon  the  leaf  of  the  lotus. 
Learning  this  truth,  O  man  !  do  not  attempt  to  deprive 
another  of  his  property."      Asiatic  Researches,  vol.  i.  p« 
123,   &c.     The   other  grant   which  appears  to  be  still 
more  ancient,  is  not  less  remarkable.     Both  were  found 

3  n 


S?8  NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

engraved  on  plates  of  copper.  Ib.  p.  357,  &c. — 5.  The 
translation  of  part  of  the  Shaster,  published  by  colonel 
Dow,  in  the  year  1768,  ought  perhaps  to  have  been  first 
mentioned.  But  as  this  translation  was  not  made  by 
him  from  the  Sanskreet,  but  taken  from  the  mouth  of  a 
Brahmin,  who  explained  the  Shaster  in  Persian,  or  in 
the  vulgar  language  of  Bengal,  it  will  fall  more  properly 
under  notice  when  we  come  to  inquire  into  the  state  of 
science  among  the  Hindoos,  than  in  this  place,  where 
we  are  endeavouring  to  give  some  idea  of  their  taste 
and  composition. 


NOTE  LXVII.  p.  249. 


As  many  of  my  readers  may  be  unacquainted  with  the 
extravagant  length  of  the  four  eras  or  periods  of  Indian 
chronology,  it  may  be  proper  to  give  an  account  of  them 
from  Mr.  Halhed's  Preface  to  the  Code  of  Gentoo  Laws, 
p.  xxxv i. 

1.  The  Suttee  Jogue  (or  age  of  purity)  is  said  to  have 
lasted  three  million  two    hundred  thousand  years ;  and 
they  hold  that  the  life  of  man  was  extended  in  that  age 
to  one  hundred  thousand  years ;  and  that  his  stature  was 
twenty- one  cubits. 

2.  The  Tirtah  Jogue  (in  which  one  third  of  mankind 
was  corrupted)    they  suppose  to   have  consisted  of  two 
million  four  hundred  thousand  years,  and  that  men  lived 
to  the  age  of  ten  thousand  years. 

3.  The  Dwapaar  Jogue  (in  which  half  of  the  human 
race  became  depraved)  endured  one  million  six  hundred 
thousand   years  :   and  the  life  of  man   was  then  reduced 
to  a  thousand  years. 

4.  The   Collee  Jogue  (in  which  all  mankind  are  cor- 
rupted, or  rather  lessened,  for  that  is  the  true  meaning 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS,  37$ 

of  Collee)  is  the  present  era,  which  they  suppose  or- 
dained to  subsist  four  hundred  thousand  years,  of  which 
near  five  thousand  are  already  past  ;  and  the  life  of  man 
in  that  period  is  limited  to  one  hundred  years. 

If  we  suppose  the  computation  of  time  in  the  Indian 
chronology  to  be  made  by  solar  or  even  by  lunar  years 
nothing  can  be  more  extravagant  in  itself,  or  more  re- 
pugnant to  our  mode  of  calculating  the  duration  of  the 
world,  founded  on  sacred  and  infallible  authority. 
Some  attempts  have  been  made  by  learned  men,  parti* 
cularly  by  M.  Bailly,  in  a  very  ingenious  dissertation 
on  that  subject,  to  bring  the  chronology  of  the  Hindoos 
to  accord  somewhat  better  with  that  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment; but  as  I  could  not  explain  the  principles  upon 
which  he  founds  his  conclusions,  without  entering  into 
long  and  intricate  discussions  foreign  from  the  subject 
of  this  Dissertation,  and  as  I  cannot  assent  to  some  of 
his  opinions,  I  shall  rest  satisfied  with  referring  to  his 
Astron.  Indienne,  Disc.  Prelim,  p.  Ixxvii.  and  leave  my 
readers  to  judge  for  themselves.  I  am  happy  to  observe 
that  a  memoir  on  the  chronology  of  the  Hindoos  will 
be  published  in  the  second  volume  of  the  Transactions 
of  the  Society  of  Bengal,  and  I  hope  that  sonic  learned 
member  of  that  body  will  be  able,  from  his  acquaint- 
ance with  the  languages  and  history  of  the  country,  to 
throw  light  upon  a  subject  which  its  connexion  with  re- 
ligion and  science  renders  extremely  interesting.  From 
one  circumstance,  however,  which  merits  attention,  we 
may  conclude,  that  the  information  which  we  have  hither- 
to received  concerning  the  chronology  of  the  Hindoos 
is  very  incorrect.  We  have,  as  far  as  I  know,  only  five 
original  accounts  of  the  different  jogues  or  eras  of  the 
Hindoos.  The  first  is  given  by  M.  Roger,  who  receiv- 
ed it  from  the  Brahmins  on  the  Coromandel  coast.  Ac- 
cording to  it,  the  Suttee  jogue  is  a  period  of  one  million 
seven  hundred  and  twenty-eight  thousand  years;  the 
Tjrtah  jogue  is  one  million  two  hundred  and  ninety- six 


380  NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

thousand  years  the  Dwapaarjogue   is  eight  hundred  and 
sixty  four  thousand  years.     The^  duration  of  the  Collee 
'jogue    he    does  not  specify.      Porte   Ouverte,    p.   179. 
The  next   is  that  of  M.   Bernier,  who  received  it  from, 
the  Brahmins  of  Benares.      According  to  him,  the  du- 
ration of  the  Suttee  jogue  was  two  million   five  hundred 
thousand  years  ;   that  of    Tirtah  jogue  one  million  two 
hundred  thousand  years  ;   that  of  the  Dwapaar  jogue  is 
eight  hundred  and  sixty-four  thousand  years.      Concern- 
ing the  period  of  the  Collee  jogue,  he,  likewise,  is  silent. 
Voyages,  torn.  ii.   p.   160.     The  third  is  that  of  colo- 
nel Dow,  according  to  which  the  Suttee  jogue  is  a    pe- 
riod of  fourteen  million  of  years ;  the  Tirtah  jogue  one 
million  eighty  thousand;  the  Dwapaarjogue  seventy  two 
thousand  ;  and  the  Collee  jogue  thirty-six  thousand  years. 
Hist,  of  Hindost.   vol.  i.  p.  2.      The  fourth  account  is 
that  of   M.  le  Gentil,   who  received   it  from  the  Brah- 
mins of  the   Coromandel  coast,  and  as  his  information 
was  acquired  in   the  same   part   of  India,  and  derived 
from  the  same  source  with  that  of  M.  Roger,  it  agrees 
with  his  in  every   particular,      Mem.  de  1'Academ.  des 
{Sciences  pour  2772,  torn.  ii.  part  i.  p.  176.     The  fifth  is 
the  account  of  Mr.  Halhed,  which  I  have  already  given. 
From  this  discrepancy,   not  only  of  the  total  numbers, 
but  of  many  of  the  articles  in  the  different  accounts,  it  is 
manifest  that   our  information  concerning  Indian  chro- 
nology is  hitherto  as  uncertain  as  the  whole  system  of  it 
is  wild  and  fabulous.     To  me   it  appears  highly  proba- 
ble, that  when  tve  understand  more  thoroughly  the  prin- 
ciples upon  which  the  factitious  eras   or  jogues   of  the 
Hindoos   have  been  formed,  that  we  may  be  more  able 
to  reconcile  their  chronology  to  the  true  mode  of  com- 
puting time,  founded  on  the  authority  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment;  and  may  likewise  find  reason  to  conclude,  that 
the  account  given  by  their  astronomers  of  the  situation 
of  the  heavenly  bodies  at  the  beginning  of  the   Collee 
jogue,  is  not  established  by  actual  observation,  but  the 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  381 

result  of  a  retrospective  calculation.  Whoever  undertakes 
to  investigate  farther  the  chronology  of  the  Hindoos, 
will  derive  great  assistance  from  a  Memoir  of  Mr. 
Marsden  on  that  subject,  in  which  he  has  explained  the 
nature  of  their  year  and  the  several  eras  in  use  among 
them,  with  much  ingenuity  and  precision.  Philos. 
Transact,  vol.  Ixxx.  part  ii.  p.  560. 


NOTE  LXVIII.  p.  258, 


In  the  public  buildings  of  India,  we  find  proofs  and 
monuments  of  the  proficiency  of  the  Brahmins  in  science, 
particularly  of  their  attention  to  astronomical  observa- 
tion. Their  religion  enjoins,  that  the  four  sides  of  a 
pagoda  should  face  the  four  cardinal  points.  In  order 
to  execute  this  with  accuracy,  they  take  a  method  de- 
scribed by  M.  le  Gentil,  which  discovers  a  consider- 
able degree  of  science.  He  carefully  examined  the  po- 
sition of  one  of  their  pagodas,  and  found  it  to  be  per- 
fectly exact.  Voy.  torn.  i.  p.  133.  As  some  of  their 
pagodas  are  very  ancient,  they  must  have  early  attained 
such  a  portion  of  knowledge  as  was  requisite  for  placing 
them  properly.  On  the  ceilings  of  choultrys,  and  other 
ancient  edifices,  the  twelve  signs  of  the  zodiac  are  often 
delineated ;  and  from  their  resemblance  to  those  which 
are  now  universally  used,  it  is  highly  probable  that  the 
knowledge  of  these  arbitrary  symbols  was  derived  from 
the  East.  Colonel  Call  has  published  a  drawing  of  the 
signs  of  the  zodiac,  which  he  found  on  the  ceiling  of  a 
choultry  at  Verdapettah,  in  the  Madura  country.  Phil. 
Transact,  vol  Ixii.  p.  353.  I  have  a  drawing  of  them 
in  my  possession,  differing  from  his  in  some  of  the 
figures,  but  I  cannot  say  in  what  particular  place  it  was 
found.  Sir  Robert  Baker  describes  an  observatory  at 


382  NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Benares,  which  he  visited  A.  D.  1772.  In  it  he  found 
instruments  for  astronomical  observation,  of  verv  large 
dimensions,  and  constructed  with  great  skill  and  inge- 
nuity. Of  all  these  he  has  published  drawings.  Phil. 
Transact,  vol.  Ixvii.  p.  598.  According  to  traditionary 
account,  this  observatory  was  built  by  the  emperor  Ak- 
ber.  The  view  which  sir  Robert  took  of  it  was  an 
hasty  one.  It  merits  a  more  attentive  inspection,  in  or- 
der to  determine  whether  it  was  constructed  by  Akber  or 
erected  in  some  more  early  period.  Sir  Robert  intimates, 
that  none  but  Brahmins  who  understood  the  Sanskreet, 
and  could  consult  the  astronomical  tables  written  in  that 
language,  were  capable  of  calculating  eclipses.  P.  Ties- 
senthaler  describes,  in  a  very  cursory  manner,  two  ob- 
servatories furnished  with  instruments  of  extraordinary 
magnitude,  at  Jepour  and  Ougein,  in  the  country  of 
Malwa.  Bernouilli,  totn.  i.p.  316.  347.  But  these  are 
modern  structures. 


Since  the  first  edition  of  the  Historical  Disquisition 
was  published,  the  Souriak  Seddantam,  or,  according  to 
a  more  correct  orthography,  the  Surya  Siddhanta,  on 
the  principles  of  which  I  had  observed  that  all  the  In- 
dian astronomy  is  founded,  has  been  discovered  at  Ben- 
ares by  sir  Robert  Chambers.  He  immediately  com- 
municated this  valuable  work  to  Samuel  Davis,  esq.  who 
has  favoured  the  world  with  a  translation  of  several  con- 
siderable extracts  from  it. 

The  Surya  Siddhanta  is  composed  in  the  Sanskreet 
language,  and  professes  to  be  a  divine  revelation,  (as 
Abul  Fazel  had  related,  Ayeen  Akbery,  III.  p.  8.)  com- 
municated to  mankind  more  than  two  millions  of  years 
ago,  towards  the  close  of  the  Sutty  or  Satya  jogue,  the 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS.  383 

first  of  the  four  fabulous  ages  into  which  the  Hindoo 
mythologists  divide  the  period  during  which  they  sup- 
pose the  world  to  have  existed.  But  when  this  accom- 
panimentof  fiction  and  extravagance  is  removed,  there  is 
left  behind  a  very  rational  and  elaborate  system  of  as- 
tronomical calculation.  From  this  Mr.  Davis,  has  se- 
lected what  relates  to  the  calculation  of  eclipses,  and  has 
illustrated  it  with  great  ingenuity.  The  manner  in 
which  that  subject  is  treated  has  so  close  an  affinity  to 
the  methods  formerly  brought  from  India,  and  of  which 
I  have  given  some  account,  as  to  confirm  strongly  the 
opinion  that  the  Surya  Siddhanta  is  the  source  from, 
which  all  the  others  are  derived.  How  far  the  real 
date  of  this  work  may  be  ascertained  from  the  rules  and 
tables  which  it  contains,  will  be  more  clearly  established 
when  a  translation  of  the  whole  is  published.  In  the 
mean  time  it  is  evident,  that  what  is  already  known  with 
respect  to  these  rules  and  tables,  is  extremely  favourable 
to  the  hypothesis  which  ascribes  a  very  high  antiquity  to 
the  astronomy  of  the  Brahmins. 

The  circumstance,  perhaps,  most  worthy  of  attention, 
in  the  extracts  now  referred  to,  is  the  system  of  trigono- 
metry included  in  the  astronomical  rules  of  the  Surya 
Siddhanta.  Asiat.  Research,  ii.  p.  245.  249.  It  may 
be  shewn  that  this  system  is  founded  on  certain  geome- 
trical theorems,  which,  though,  modern  mathematicians 
be  well  acquainted  with,  were  certainly  unknown  to 
Ptolemy  and  the  Greek  geometricians. 

It  is  with  pleasure,  too,  we  observe,  that  Mr.  Davis 
has  in  his  possession  several  other  ancient  books  of 
Hindoo  astronomy,  and  that  there  is  reason  to  expect 
from  him  a  translation  of  the  whole  Surya  Siddhanta. 

It  must  t>e  added,  that  we  also  learn  from  the  second 
volume  of  the  Asiatic  Researches,  that  some  vestiges  of 
algebraical  calculation  have  been  discovered  among  the 
Brahmins ;  particularly  rules  for  the  solution  of  certain 
arithmetical  questions,  with  which  it  would  seem  that 


NOTES  AND  ILLUSTRATIONS, 

nothing  but  algebra  could  have  furnished  them.    Asiat. 
Research,  ii.  p.  468.  note,  487.  495. 

My  friend,  Mr.  Professor  Playfair,  has  examined  that 
extract  from  the  Surya  Siddhanta,  which  gives  an  ac- 
count of  the  ancient  Hindoo  System  of  trigonometry, 
and  has  discovered  the  principles  on  which  it  is  founded. 
It  is  with  pleasure  I  announce,  that  the  result  of  this 
examination  will  be  communicated  soon  to  the  public, 
and  will  afford  an  additional  proof  of  the  extraordinary 
progress  which  the  natives  of  India  had  early  made  in 
the  most  abstruse  sciences. 


INDEX, 


rfBUL  FAZEL,  minister  to  Akber,  sovereign  of  Indostan, 
publishes  the  Ayeen  Akbery,  215.  And  Heeto-pades,  375. 

Acejines,  a  city  built  on  that  river  by  Alexander  the  Great,  303. 

SEras  of  Indian  chronology,  explained,  378.  Remarks  on,  379. 

Africa,  general  idea  of  the  continent  of,  and  of  its  trade,  159. 
Origin  of  the  slave  trade,  181. 

Agathemerua,  his  account  of  the  island  of  Taprobana,  83, 
His  character  of  Ptolemy  the  geographer,  321. 

Agathodtemon,  illustrates  the  geography  of  Ptolemy,  by  maps, 
321. 

Akber)  sovereign  of  Indostan,  his  character,  214.  369. 

Albuquerque,  Alphonso,  the  Portuguese  admiral,  seizes  the 
island  of  Ormus,  152.  His  operations  on  the  Red  sea,  153. 

Alexander  the  Great,  his  extensive  views  respecting  India,  13. 
His  expedition  to  India,  14.  His  war  with  Porus,  16.  How 
obliged  to  relinquish  his  enterprise,  17.  His  measures  for 
opening  a  maritime  communication  with  India,  18.  His 
account  of  India  confirmed  by  modern  observations,  22. 
His  political  views  in  exploring  that  country,  24.  His 
measures  to  unite  his  European  and  Asiatic  subjects,  26. 
Consequences  of  his  death,  3 1.  The  sufferings  of  his  army 
from  the  periodical  rains,  295.  His  surprise  at  the  tides  of 
the"  Indian  ocean,  299  Cities  built  by  him  in  India,  303. 
305.  Intended  a  survey  of  the  Caspian  sea,  316. 

Alexandria,  long  the  chief  seat  of  commerce  with  India,  13. 
The  light  house  on  the  Pharos  erected  by  Ptolemy  Lagus, 
38.  Mode  of  conducting  the  silk  trade  at  that  port,  60. 
The  Venetians  trade  there  for  silk,  124.  And  the  Floren- 
tines, 127,  Is  subjected  to  the  Turks,  155. 
3  E 


•• 


INDEX. 

Algebra,  a  mode  of  calculation  not  unknown  to  the  Brahmins, 
384. 

Allahabad,  the  modern  name  of  the  ancient  city  of  Palibothra, 
33.  Account  of  this  city  by  Megasthenes,  35.  Remarks 
of  major  Rennell  on  this  subject,  308. 

America,  discovered  by  Christopher  Columbus,  144.  The 
East  India  trade  a  continual  drain  from  its  silver  mines,  1 80. 
Origin  of  the  slave  trade,  181.  Contrast  between  the  ffii- 
tives  of  America,  and  of  India,  when  first  discovered,  183. 
The  trade  of  Europe  with  each  compared,  186.  Was 
obliged  to  be  colonized  in  order  to  be  improved,  187. 
Supplies  Europe  ivith  its  products,  in  return  for  manufac^ 
tures,  ib. 

Antiochus  the  Great,  his  inroad  into  India,  309. 

Antoninus,  Marcus,  emperor,  notices  of  an  embassy  sent  by 
him  to  the  emperor  of  China,  73. 

Antwcrfi,  greatly  enriched  by  becoming  the  staple  of  the 
Hanseatic  league,  139. 

Arabians,  anciently  great  dealers  in  spices  from  the  East,  56. 
Great  alterations  effected  in  their  manners  by  the  religion 
of  Mahomet,  99.  They  conquerEgypt  and  Persia,  100.  A 
view  of  their  commercial  navigation,  101.  Are  the  first 
\vho  mention  porcelane  and  tea,^103.  Derived  the  know- 
ledge of  the  mariner's  compass  from  Europe,  333.  Make 
no  scruple  to  plunder  the  caravans  travelling  to  Mecca,  35 1. 

Aristotle,  his  political  advice  to  Alexander  the  Great,  25. 
His  just  description  of  the  Caspian  sea,  315.  Doubted  the 
expediency  of  encouraging  commerce  in  a  well-regulated 
state,  317. 

Aromatics,  why  much  used  by  the  ancients,  55. 

Arrian,  character  of  his  History  of  the  Indian  expedition  of 
Alexander  the  Great,  21.  His  account  of  the  commerce 
of  the  ancients,  6  I .  Inquiry  into  his  geographical  know- 
ledge of  India,  65.  Is  the  first  ancient  writer  who  had  any 
knowledge  of  the  eastern  coast  of  the  great  peninsula  of 
India,  66.  His  account  of  Alexander's  Indian  fleet  corro- 
borated, 297.  Character  of  his  Indian  history,  ibid.  His 
account  of  the  Caspian  sea,  3  i  4.  The  places  mentioned  in 
his  Peri  plus  compared  with  modern  situations  and  names, 
S21.  326. 

Ar*s  and  Sciences,  where  first  cultivated,  2. 
Asbzatos,  its  extravagant  price  among  the  Romans,  318. 
Astronomy,  testimonies  of  the  great  proficiency  of  the  Indos- 

tans  in,  'J48. 
Augsburg,  greatly  enriched  by  becoming  a  mart  for  Indian 

commodities,  140. 
•Augustus,  emperor,  reduces  Egypt  to  a  Roman  province,  45, 


INDEX. 

Ayeen  Akbcry,  account  of  the  mutual  intercourse  of  the  East 
Indians  by  water,  from,  297.     See  Sanskreet  literature. 


B 

Babelmandcb,  derivation  of  the  name,  310. 

Bactria,  rise  of  the  kingdom  of,  and  its  acquisitions  in  India, 
37.  Is  overwhelmed  by  the  Tartars,  37.  310. 

Bagkvat-Geta,  the  pure  theology  taught  in  that  poem,  276. 

Bailly,  M.  his  examination  into  the  antiquity  of  astronomy  in 
India,  253. 

Sank  of  Venice,  the  first  establishment  of  that  kind  formed  in 
Europe,  346. 

Barygazay  a  considerable  emporium  on  the  coast  of  ancient 
India,  its  situation  ascertained,  61. 

Bassora,  the  city  of,  founded  by  the  calif  Omar,  100. 

Benares,  the  peculiar  seat  of  Indostan  science  and  literature, 
257.  Account  of  the  observatory  there,  382. 

Berenice,  the  city  of,  founded  to  facilitate  the  trade  betweea 
Alexandria  and  India,  39. 

Bernicr,  M.  his  account  of  the  Indian  chronology,  380. 

Bijore,  inhabitated  by  a  tribe  descended  from  a  colony  left 
there  by  Alexander  the  Great,  302. 

Boddam,  East  India  ship,  remarkable  speedy  voyage  of,  from 
Portsmouth  to  Madras,  3 1 6. 

Brahmins,  in  India,  their  sacred  rights  and  high  privileges, 
207.  Inquiry  into  the  state  of  scientific  knowledge  among 
them,  241.  Their  religious  hierarchy  and  worship,  258. 
Their  great  learning  taught  them  a  theology  superior  to 
the  popular  superstition,  274.  Their  doctrines  coincide 
with  the  tenets  of  the  Stoical  school,  280.  Studiously  con- 
cealed religious  truths  from  the  people,  284. 

Bruce,  the  information  his  travels  afford  concerning  the  mari- 
time expeditions  of  king  Solomon,  9. 

Bruges,  made  the  staple  of  the  trade  of  the  Hanseatic  league, 
130.  Is  greatly  enriched,  139. 

Burrun  Sunker,  a  class  among  the  Hindoos,  described,  358* 

Byzantine  historians,  a  character  of,  105. 


Caffa,  the  great  trade  carried  on  there,  339. 
Cairo,  account  of  the  caravan  that  travels  from  thence  to 
Mecca,  349, 


INDEX, 

Calicut,  reception  of  Vascode  Gamain  that  country,  145. 

Call,  colonel,  his  general  opinion  of  the  antiquity  of  arts  and 
sciences  in  India,  371. 

Camel,  the  valuable  properties  of  that  animal,  3.  Is  peculiarly 
formed  for  traversing  sandy  deserts,  347. 

Candahar,  under  what  name  known  to  Alexander  the  Great, 
16. 

Canton,  in  China,  a  factory  settled  there  by  the  early  Arabs, 
102. 

Cafie  of  Good  Hope,  circumstances  that  led  to  the  discovery  of 
a  passage  to  India  that  way,  145.  Is  said  by  Herodotus  to 
have  been  passed  by  some  Phenician  ships,  168.  Impor- 
tance of  the  discovery  of  this  passage  by  the  Portuguese, 
189. 

Caravans,  the  origin  of,  3.  Were  protected  and  encouraged 
under  the  Roman  dominion,  77.  Great  commercial  use  of, 
in  the  East,  161.  Account  of  the  caravans  which  visit 
Mecca,  350.  A  considerable  slave  trade  carried  on  by  the 
African  caravans^  35 1. 

Caspian  sea,  erroneous  opinion  of  the  ancient  geographers 
concerning,  43.  314.  By  whom  first  described  in  modern 
times,  3 1 5.  Its  dimensions,  id. 

Casts,  or  orders  of  society  among  the  native  Gentoos  describ- 
ed, 199.  Remarks  on  the  policy  and  tendency  of  this  ar» 
rangement,  200.  Their  peculiar  names,  ranks,  and  offices 
described,  358. 

Cathay,  the  ancient  name  of  China,  132, 

Ceylon,  supposed  to  be  the  island  described  by  ancient  geo- 
graphers under  the  name  of  Taprobana,  84.  Christian 
churches  planted  there  by  Persian  missionaries,  105.  Is 
visited  by  Marco  Polo,  the  Venetian,  103. 

Chardin,  sir  John,  his  testimony  that  the  Orientals  derived 
the  use  of  the  mariner's  compass  from  the  Europeans,  334, 
His  account  of  the  trade  of  Caffa,  339. 

Chillambrum,  description  of  the  pagoda  there,  225. 

China,  the  only  country  whence  the  Romans  obtained  silk,  60. 
Through  what  medium  they  received  it,  64.  How  the  silk- 
worm was  conveyed  from  thence  to  Europe,  96.  Is  traded 
to  by  the  Arabians,  103.  First  mention  of  porcelane  and 
tea,  ib.  The  Christian  religion  propagated  there  by  Per- 
sian missionaries,  105.  How  the  silk  of,  was  conveyed  to 
Constantinople,  after  the  Greeks  were  excluded  from  the 
port  of  Alexandria,  106.  Estimate  of  the  Chinese  practice 
of  navigation,  333.  How  the  number  of  Mahometans  in- 
crease in  China,  337.  A  commercial  intercourse,  by  land, 
opened  between  that  country  and  Russia,  353.  Amazing 
exportation  of  tea  from,  to  Europe,  356. 


INDEX. 

Chitore,  the  high  descent  claimed  by  the  rajahs  of,  302. 

Chronology,  Indian,  the  four  eras  of,  378.     Remarks  on,  379, 

Cleopatra,  value  of  her  famous  pearl  ear-rings,  58. 

Colchos,  the  ancient  pearl-fishery  there,  still  carried  on  by 
the  Dutch,  65. 

Colours,  Indian,  for  dying,  account  of,  372. 

Columbus,  his  views  in  that  voyage  by  which  he  discovered 
America,  1 44.  His  reliance  on  the  authority  of  Marco 
Polo,  the  Venetian  traveller,  344.  See  Gama. 

Commerce,  the  extension  of,  abated  the  hostile  sentiments 
which  actuated  one  nation  against  another,  1 30.  Unfavour- 
able opinion  of  Plato  concerning,  317. 

Common  law  ,  the  origin  of,  traced,  2 1 2. 

Comorin,  cape,  is  accurately  described  by  Arrian,  65. 

Comfiass,  mariner's,  was  unknown  by  the  ancient  Chinese  and 
Arabs,  333. 

Constantinople,  taken  and  plundered  by  the  crusaders,  119. 
Subversion  of  the  Latin  empire  there,  121.  Is  conquered 
by  the  Turks,  and  made  the  seat  of  their  government,  134. 

Conveyancing  specimen  of  the  ancient  Indian  style  of,  377. 

Coromandel,  coast,  the  inhabitants  of,  always  great  traders,  91, 

Cosmas,  Indicopleustes,  some  account  of,  and  of  his  Chris- 
tian topography,  92.  His  account  of  the  island  of  Tapro- 
bana,  93. 

Cotton  manufactures,  evidence  of  their  not  being  common 
among  the  Romans,  321. 

Crusadas  to  the  holy  Land,  the  origin  of,  traced,  and  their 
commercial  effects,  113.  The  crusaders  acquired  the  poli- 
cy and  arts  of  the  people  whom  they  subdued,  115.  Brought 
different  nations  acquainted  with  .each  other,  130. 


Damascus,  account  of  the  caravan  that  travels  from  thence  to 
Mecca,  350. 

Damask,  the  name  of  that  species  of  silk  manufacture,  whence 
derived,  138. 

Dandulo,  Andrew,  the  character  of  his  Venetian  chronicle, 
337. 

D'dnville,  M.  his  opinion  as  to  the  course  pursued  in  the 
trading  voyages  of  king  Solomon's  ships,  10.  His  correc- 
tions of  Ptolemy's  geography  of  India,  72.  Corroborates 
Nearchus's  account  of  India,  300.  His  geography  of  In- 
dia controverted  by  M.  Gosselin,  324. 

Darius,  the  son  of  Hystaspes,  king  of  Persia,  his  researches 
into,  and  conquest  in  India.  13. 


INDEX. 

JDccan,  the  ancient  Dachanos  of  Arrian,  327. 

Delta  of  the  Indus,  the  general  state  of  the  weather  there, 

296. 

Diamonds,not  so  highly  esteemed  by  the  Romans  as  pearl s,3 18* 
JDiodorus  Siculus,  his  history  of  the  Indian  expedition  of  Se- 

sostris  examined,  290. 
Dow,  colonel,  account  of  his  translation  of  the  Shaster,  244, 

377.    His  account  of  the  Indian  chronology,  380. 
Donvlatabad,  the  same  with  the  ancient  Tagara,  321. 
Du  Haide,  his  description  of  a  peculiar  species  of  silk,  318. 
Dutch  states,  became  the  first  rivals  of  the  Portuguese  in  the 

trade  to  India,  179. 
Dyes,  Indian,  the  excellence  of,  372. 


East)  the  regions  of,  where  arts  and  sciences  were  first  culti- 
vated, 2.  The  incourse  between  different  countries  how 
first  carried  on,  id.  The  first  maritime  communication  with? 
from  the  West,  5.  See  India. 

Eclifises,  how  calculated  by  the  Brahmins  of  India,  251, 
JZgijfit)  ancient  prejudice  of  the  inhabitants  against  any  inter- 
course with  foreigners,  5.     How  the  Egyptians  became  a 
commercial  people,  6.     The  city  of  Alexandria  built,    13. 
The  seat  of  government  fixed  there  by  Ptolemy  Lagus, 

38.  Intercourse  between  the  city  of  Berenice  and  India, 

39.  Its  opulence  derived   from  its  commerce  with  the 
East,  42.     Is  reduced  to  a  Roman  province,  45.     Manner 
of  conducting  the  silk  trade  at  the  port  of  Alexandria,  60. 
Conquest  of,  by  the  Arabs,  99.     The  Venetians   resort  to 
Alexandria  for  silk,  124.  And  the  Florentines,  127.  Com- 
mercial view  of  the   countries,   137.    Is  subdued  by    the 
Turks,  155.     How  the  Indian  trade  has  been   conducted 
through  that  country  at  different  times,  310. 

Elagabulus,  the  first  Roman  emperor  who  wore  silk,  59. 

Elefihanta,)  island,  account  of  the  ancient  pagoda  there,  220, 

Ellore,  general  account  of  the  pagodas  there,  370. 

JEso/i's  fables,  the  origin  of,  traced,  376. 

Ethics,  state  of,  in  India,  244. 

Europe  t  a  review  of  the  state  of,  at  the  time  of  the  subversion 
of  the  Greek  empire,  134.  Extensive  operation  of  the  com- 
mercial genius  of,  183.  The  Europeans  receive  the  pro- 
ducts of  America,  and  supply  it  with  manufactures,  187. 
The  exportation  of  silver  to  India,  how  beneficial  to  Eu- 
rope, 189.  Importance  of  the  discovery  of  the  passage  to 
India  round  the  cape  of  Good  Hope,  189. 


INDEX, 


Faquirs  of  India,  unite  trade  with  devotion  in  their  pilgrim- 
ages 114.  338.  Brief  account  of,  361. 

figures  arithmetical,  originally  derived  from  India,  247. 

Fi-ve  Gems,  an  ancient  Sanskrcet  poem,  account  of,  377. 

Florence,  rise  of  the  state  of,  by  manufactures  and  the  bank- 
ing business,  126.  A  commercial  treaty  concluded  with 
Egypt,  127.  Summary  of  the  instructions  to  their  ambas- 
sadors to  the  soldan,  341. 


G 

Ga?na,  Vasco  de,  his  voyage  from  Lisbon  to  India,  145. 

Ganges,  account  of  that  river  by  major  Rennell,  307. 

Genoa,  motives  that  stimulated  the  Genoese  to  assist  in  sub- 
verting the  Latin  empire  at  Constantinople,  122.  The  great 
advantages  they  derived  from  this  measure,  123.  Character 
of  the  Genoese  government,  124.  The  Genoese  expelled 
from  all  their  Grecian  settlements  by  the  Turks,  133. 
Character  of,  by  Nicephorus  Gregoras,  339. 

Gentil,  M.  le,  his  account  of  the  Indian  chronology,  380. 

Gentoos,  see  Brahmins  and  Hindoos. 

Gibbon,  Mr.  the  Roman  historian,  testimony  in  favour  of  his 
accuracy,  330. 

Gosselin,  M.  character  of  his  geography  of  the  Greeks  anna- 
lized,  324. 

Greeks,  their  national  pride  at  the  time  of  Alexander  the 
Great,  25.  How  they  attained  the  breeding  of  silkworms 
under  the  emperor  Justinian,  97.  Are  shutout  from  the 
port  of  Alexandria  by  the  Mahomedan  Arabs,  99.  The 
Greek  empire  conquered  by  Mahomet  II.  133.  HOW  they 
were  deprived  of  Bactria,  309.  Origin  of  the  ancient  my- 
thology of,  265. 

Qum-lacca,  natural  history  of,  and  its  uses  in  manufacture, 
372. 


H 

Halhead,  Mr.  his  account  of  the  Sanskreet  literature,  374. 
Hanno,  commanded  the  only  voyage  for  discovery  undertaken 
by  any  of  the  ancient  states  in  the  Mediterranean,  355, 


INDEX. 

Hanseatic  league,  formed,  and  the  staple  fixed  at  Bruges,  130. 

Hatting*,  Mr.  governor-general  of  Bengal,  his  attention  to 
forming  a  code  of  Hindoo  laws,  215. 

Heeto-Pades,  or  Amicable  Instruction,  an  ancient  Sanskreet 
composition,  account  and  character  of,  375. 

Herodotus,  affirms  the  cape  of  Good  Hope  to  have  been  pass- 
ed by  some  Phenician  vessels,  67.  His  history  of  Sesostris 
examined,  290.  His  unsatisfactory  account  of  the  tides 
in  the  Red  sea,  299.  His  just  description  of  the  Caspian 
sea,  314. 

Hindoos,  that  people  exactly  described  in  the  account  of  the 
Indian  expedition  of  Alexander  the  Great,  23.  Their  in- 
flexible adherence  to  their  religion,  and  casts  336.  Their 
four  orders,  or  casts  described,  »99.  Remarks  on  the 
policy  and  tendency  of  this  popular  arrangement,  200. 
Their  high  antiquity,  and  nature  of  their  institutions,  217. 
Character  of  their  judicial  code,  ibid.  State  of  sciences 
among  them,  242.  Their  religious  tenets  and  practises, 
259.  The  names,  ranks,  and  offices  of  their  several  casts 
described,  358.  Their  temples,  371. 

Jliram,  king  of  Tyre,  assists  king  Solomon  in  his  naval  un- 
dertakings, 9. 

Hippalus,  captain  of  an  Egyptian  vessel,  avails  himself  of  the 
monsoons,  in  sailing  from  the  Arabian  gulf  to  the  Mala- 
bar coast,  5 1 . 

Hipparchus,  the  first  who  attempted  to  make  a  catalogue 
of  the  stars,  69. 

History,  authentic,  the  period  of,  extremely  limited,  1 .  Is 
minute  in  the  records  of  blood,  but  silent  as  to  the  progress 
of  useful  arts,  51. 

Hydasp.es,  river,  a  numerous  fleet  assembled  there  by  Alex- 
ander the  Great,  1 8. 

Hyphasis,  river,  the  utmost  limit  of  Alexander  the  Great's 
progress  in  India,  17. 


Java  Minor,  of  Marco  Polo,  ascertained,  343. 

Jenaub,  a  city  built  on  that  river  by  Alexander  the  Great, 
303. 

Jenkinson,  Anthony,  the  first  modern  traveller  who  gives  a 
just  description  of  the  Caspian  sea,  315. 

Jesivonf  Sing,  his  letter  to  Aurengzebe,  containing  a  charac- 
ter of  sultan  Akber,  369. 

Jewels,  their  great  use,  and  high  estimation  ^mong  the  an-, 
cients,  57. 


.. 


INDEX. 

Jews,  when  they  effected  a  commercial  intercourse  with  In- 
dia, 9.  Inquiry  into  the  maritime  commerce  of  king  Solo- 
mon,  10.  Their  commercial  effort  terminated  in  his  reign, 
ibid. 

India-)  the  first  naval  communication  with,  from  the  West,  5, 
The  trade  of  the    Phenicians   with,    how   conducted,   7. 
Naval  expedition  of  the   Persians   to,    11.     Conquests  of 
Darius  Hystaspes  in,  12.     Alexandria,  for  many  centuries 
the  chief  seat  of  trade  with,  13.  Expedition  of  Alexander 
the  Great  to,  15.     Flourishing  state  of  the  country  at  that 
time,  16.     Alexander's  voyage  down  the  Indus,  19.    Poli- 
tical state  of  the  country  at  that  time,    2 1 .     Alexander's 
views  in  this  expedition  24.     Expedition  of  Seleucus,  one 
of  the  successors  of  Alexander,  32.     Embassy  of  Megas- 
thenes  to,  33.     Conquests  of  the  Bactrian   princes  in,  37* 
Remains  afterwards  undisturbed  by  Europeans,  until  the 
cape  of  Good  Hope  was  doubled  by  the   Portuguese,  37. 
A  commercial  intercourse    established  with  Egypt,    38» 
How  Rome  was  supplied  with  eastern  commodities,  47. 
Advantage   taken  of  the  monsoons,  in   sailing  from  the 
gulf  of  Arabia  to  the   Malabar  coast,  51.     Its   commodi- 
ties, articles  of  luxury,  54.     Spices  and  aromatic*,    550 
Precious  stones,   57.     Silk,  59.     General  view  of  its  ex- 
ports and  imports,  62.     Comparison   between  the  ancient 
and  modern  trade  with  India,  64.     D'Anvi'^'&corrections 
of  Ptolemy's  geography  of,  72.     The   trade    by  caravans 
protected  and  encouraged  by  the  Romans,   77.     The   in- 
habitants of  the  Coromandel  coast  always  great  traders,  91. 
The  account  given  of  India  bj  Oosmas  Indicopleustes,  94. 
The  Romans  rivalled  in  me  Indian  trade  by  the  Persians, 
ibid.     The  Italian  states  engaged  in  the  Indian  trade,  109» 
Account  of  the   Indian    trade    by    Marino   Sanudo,    128. 
Comparative  view  of  the  Indian  trade,  as  carried  on  by  difr 
ferent  nations  at  different  times,  136.     A  direct  voyage  to 
India  effected  by  the  Portuguese,  146.     The  staple  of  the 
Portuguese  trade  established  at  the  city  of   Malacca,  150. 
A  commercial  empire  established  in  the  East,  by  the  Por- 
tuguese, 156.     How  it  came  to  pass  that  the  discovery  of 
a  direct  navigation  to  India  was  reserved  for  modern  times, 
164.     The  conduct  of  ancient  and  modern  navigators  to 
the  East,  compared,  168.     The  prices  of  Indian  commodi- 
ties greatly  reduced  by  the  opening  a  direct  communica- 
tion with  India,  171.     The   India  trade  a  continual  drain  of 
American  silver  from  Europe,  180.     Contrast  between  the 
state  of  the  natives  of  India  and  America,  when  first  disco- 
vered,   183.     The  trade  of  Europe  with  each,  compared, 
186.  The  silver  exported  to  India  contributes  to  enrich  in 


INDEX. 

stead  of  impoverishing  Europe,    188.     Importance  of  the 
discovery  of  the  passage  to  India  round  the  cape  of  Good 
Hope,  to  Europe,    189.     Examination  of  the  improbabili- 
ties attending  the  supposed  expedition  of  Sesostris  to  India, 
289.     Remarks  on  the  weather  there,   295.     Remarks  of 
the  naval  expedition  of   Nearchus,   298.     Peculiarities  in 
the    Indian    tides,   299.     Aversion   of  tne   natives  of   the 
East  to  the   sea,  303.      Major  Hennell's  account  of  the 
river  Ganges,  306.     Enrl<~ivr°urs  to  ascertain  the  situation 
of  the  ancient  city   »>t  Pahbothra,   307.     How  the  Indian 
trade  has  been  carried  on  through  Egypt  at  different  times, 
310.     Erroneous  descriptions  of  the  Caspian  sea  by  ancient 
writers,    314.     Deccan,   the  ancient  Dachanos  of  Arrian, 
327.     The  use  of  the  mariner's   compass  learned  by  the 
Easterns    from  the    Europeans,    333.     The   Gentoos    in- 
flexible in  their  religion,  336.     Computed  number  of  Ma- 
homedans  in  India,  ibid.     Extensive  circulation  of  Eastern 
goods  by  the   caravans,    352.  '  The    natives  of  India  the 
earliest  known    people  who  were  civilized,    197.     Their 
division  into  casts,    199.     The  perfection  of  Indian  manu- 
factures accounted  for,  20  i .     The  general  tenure  of  land 
theve,  208.     Character  of   the  Hindoo  code  of  laws,  217. 
General  account  of  the  pagodas,   220.     Fortresses,   227. 
Mechanic  arts,    228.     Literature,    231.     Their   sciences, 
240.     Their  religious  tenets,  258.     Origin  of  superstition, 
263.     The  pur*  theology  of  the  Brahmins,  274.     General 
reflections  formed  on  the  preceeding  -eview  of  the  Eastern 
nations,  284.     The  miners  and  customs  of  the  natives  in- 
fluenced by  the  Mahomed^  and  European  intruders,  -362. 
Account  of  the   Sanskreet  literature,    374.     The  Heeto- 
Pades,  375.     The  Five  Gems,  377    Ode  from  Wulli,  ibid. 
Specimen  of  Indian  conveyancing,  ibid.     The  four  eras  of 
Indian  chronology,  explained,  378. 
Indicum,  of  the   ancients,   the   same    \vith    modem   indigo, 

372. 
Indigo,  the  several  kinds  of,  mentioned  by  authors  and  its 

uses,  372. 

Indus,  river,  passed  by  Alexander  the.  Great,  16.  His  voy- 
age down  that  river,  19. 

Institutions  of  India,  the  permanency  of,  accounted  for,  202, 
Interest  of  money,  the  most  exact  standard  of  commercial  pro- 
fits, 140.     Chronological  view  of,  141. 
Joanna  of  Navarre,  her  exclamation  at  the  wealth  of  the  city 

of  Bruges,  344. 

Italy,  rise  of  the  commercial  states  of,  108.  They  import  the 
productions  of  India,  109.  The  profits  they  reaped  from 
the  Crusades,  117.  See  Venice,  Genoa,  &c. 


INDEX. 

Itineraries  of  the  Roman  empire,  how  formed,  3*3. 

Julius  Cesar,  his  magnificent  present  to  Servilia,  the  motluer 

of  Brutus,  58.     His  ignorance  of  the  British   tides,   299 

A  general  survey  of  the  whole  Roman  empire  undertaken 

by  him,  322. 
Justin,  observations  on  his  acconnt  of  the  progress  made  by 

Seleucus  in  India,  305. 
Justinian,  emperor,  how  he  introduced  the  silk-worm  into  the 

Greek  empire,  96. 

L 

Land,  the  general  tenures  of,  in  India,  209.  363.  Specimen 
from  an  ancient  grant  of,  377. 

Latitudes,  how  ascertained  by  the  ancient  geographers,  86  > 
Were  more  readily  determined  by  them  than  longitudes, 
88.327. 

Lawyers,  European,  the  style  of,  compared  with  that  of  the 
Eastern  Pundits,  377. 

Leibnitz,  his  account  of  the  instructions  given  to  the  Floren- 
tine ambassadors  to  the  soldan  of  Egypt, -341. 

Logic  and  metaphysics,  state  of,  in  India,  243. 

Longitudes  of  places,  how  determined  by  ancient  geogra- 
phers, 86.  328. 

M 

Magellan,  effects   a  passage  for  the  East-Indies   westward 

from  America,  177. 
Mahabarat,   an  ancient  Indian  epic  poem,  account  of,  232. 

Extracts  from,  242.  245.277. 
Mahtr.oud  of  Gaznah,  the  vast  fleet  that  opposed  his  invasion 

of  India,  297 
Mahomet,  rapid  spread  of  his  religion,  and  the  great  effects 

produced  by  it,  98.     Contributed   greatly  to   extend  the 

commerce  of  Asia  and  Africa,  159. 
Mahomet,  II.  emperor  of  the  Turks,  subdues  the  Grecian 

empire,  133. 
Mahudel,  M.  his  proofs  of  the  ignorance  of  the  ancients  as  to 

the  nature  of  silk,  318. 
Malabar  coast,  probable  derivation  of  its  name,   93.     How 

mentioned  by  the  Arabian  writers,  103. 
Malacca,  the  city  of,  rendered  the  staple  of  the  trade  carried 

on  in  the  East  by  the  Portuguese,  150. 
Maldi-ue  islands,  probable  derivation  of  their  name,  33. 
a  review  of  his  progress  in  socjial  life,  204, 


jLvj.au 
Man 


INDEX. 

Manufactures^  Indian,  the  perfection  of,  accounted  for, 
201. 

Maps,  none  prior  to  those  formed  to  illustrate  Ptolemy's 
geography  have  reached  modern  times,  85. 

Marco  Polo,  the  Venetian,  account  of  his  travels,  132.  Ob- 
jections to  his  relations,  and  vindication  of  them,  342. 

Marseilles,  opens  a  trade  with  Constantinople  for  Indian 
commodities,  111. 

Mas&oudi,  the  Arabian,  his  account  of  India,  333. 

Mecca,  the  temple  there  visited  as  well  by  commercial  as  by 
devout  pilgrims,  114.  The  pilgrimages  to,  contributed 
greatly  to  facilitate  trade,  159.  Account  of  the  caravans 
which  visit  the  temple  there,  349. 

Medici,  Cosmo  di,  a  Florentine  merchant,  negotiates  a  com- 
mercial treaty  with  Egypt  in  favour  of  his  countrymen, 
127. 

Meditcranean  sea,  the  chief  seat  of  ancient  commerce, 
166. 

Mcgasthcncs,  his  embassy  from  Seleucus  king  of  Syria,  to 
India,  33.  His  account  of  India,  34. 

Mocenigo,  doge  of  Venice  in  the  fifteenth  century,  his  ac- 
count of  the  naval  strength  of  that  republic,  347. 

Monkish  annalists,  a  character  of,  1 10. 

Monsoons,  the  first  application  of  them  in  voyages  to  In- 
dia, 51. 

Moses,  the  books  of,  the  most  ancient  and  genuine  record 
of  the  early  ages  of  the  world,  1. 

Musiris,  a  port  on  the  coast  of  Malabar,  frequented  by  an- 
cient navigators  in  the  Indian  trade,  52. 

Mythology  of  the  Greeks,  the  natural  origin  of,  264. 


N 

Nadir  Shah,   general  review  of  his  Indian   expedition,  296. 
JYagara  of  Ptolemy,  its    latitude  according   to   D'Anville, 

80. 
Navigation,  origin  of,  traced,  4.     Where  first  cultivated,  5. 

How  introduced  among  the  Egyptians,  6. 
Ncarchus,  commands  the  naval  expedition  of  Alexander  the 

Great  clown  the  Indus,  19.     Remarks  on,  298. 
JVicefihorus  Grtgoras,  his  character  of  the  Genoese  at  Con« 

stantinople,  339. 
Niehbuhr,  his  evidence  in  favour  of  the  European  origin  of 

the  mariner's  compass,  335. 


INDEX. 


Omar,  calif,  founds  the  city  of  Bassora,  100. 

Ormus,  the  island  of,  seized  by  the  Portuguese,  152.  De- 
scription of,  ibid. 

Oude,  nabob  of,  the  great  probability  of  disputes  between  him 
and  the  Seiks,  294. 


Pagodas  of  India,  general  account  of,  220.  370.     Are  placed 
with  astronomical  precision,  381. 

Palibothra,  endeavours  to  ascertain  the  situation  of  that  city, 
307. 

Palmyra^  by  whom,  and  on  what  occasion  built,  47.  Its  stu- 
pendous ruins,  50.  Its  present  state,  51. 

Panjab,  progress  of  Alexander  the  Great  through  that  coun- 
try, 16. 

Papyrus,  occasion  of  its  being  disused  for  writing  on,  338. 

Parchment,  when  first  used  for  the  record  of  charters  arid 
deeds,  335. 

Pariars,  the  most  contemptible  race  of  men  in  India,  336. 
359. 

Patna,  evidences  of  its  not  being  the  ancient  city  of  Palibo- 
thra,  308. 

Pearls,  their  high  estimation  among  the  Romans,  57.  Were 
dearer  than  diamonds,  318. 

Pera,  the  chief  suburb  of  Constantinople,  granted  to  the  Ge- 
noese on  the  subversion  of  the  Latin  empire  there,  122. 
The  Genoese  expelled  by  the  Turks,  133. 

Persia,  how  the  commerce  between  that  country  and  India 
was  conducted,  43.  Vigorous  cultivation  of  the  India  trade, 
94.  The  silk  trade  engrossed  by  the  Persians,  96.  Their 
extortions  introduce  the  silk-worm  to  Europe,  id.  Is  con- 
quered by  the  Arabs,  99.  Nestorian  churches  planted  there, 
104.  Amount  of  the  revenue  of  the  Persian  monarchs  from 
Herodotus,  293.  Instances  of  their  ancient  aversion  to  the 
sea,  304. 
Phalanx,  Macedonian,  how  formed  by  Alexander  the  Great, 

27. 

Phenicians,  how  they  opened  a  commercial  intercourse  with 
India,  7.     Are  said  by  Herodotus  to  have  passed  the  cape 
of  Good  Hope,  167. 
Philosophy,  the  cure  for  superstition,  272. 


•  • 


INDEX. 

Pilgrimages  to  the  Holy  Land,  undertaken  as  well  from  com- 
mercial as  from  pious  motives,  115.  Account  of  the  pil- 
grimages to  Mecca,  349. 

Piljiay'it  fables,  the  origin  of,  traced,  376. 

Plato,  his  political  objections  to  commerce  in  a  well  regulated 
commonwealth,  3 1 7. 

Pliny  the  elder,  his  slender  knowledge  of  India,  68.  His  ac- 
count of  the  island  of  Taprobane,  83.  Observations  on  his 
account  of  the  progress  of  Seieucus  in  India,  305. 

Pomfionius  Mela,  his  account  of  the  island  of  Taprobane,  82. 
And  of  the  Caspian  sea,  314. 

Porcelane,  the  first  mention  of,  by  Arabian  travellers,  103. 

Portugal,  circumstances  that  led  the  Portuguese  to  the  dis- 
covery of  the  cape  of  Good  Hope,  145.  Vigorous  exertions 
of  the  Portuguese  to  cultivate  the  eastern  trade,  149.  They 
aim  at  a  monopoly  of  the  trade  to  the  East,  151.  Esta- 
blish a  commercial  empire  in  the  East,  156.  Their  activity 
In  exploring  the  eastern  countries,  169.  They  drive  the 
Venetians  out  of  the  European  markets,  by  reducing  the 
prices  of  India  goods,  172.  How  they  remained  so  long  in 
the  exclusive  possession  of  the  Indian  trade,  176.  Are  ri- 
valled at  length  in  the  Indian  ocean  by  the  Dutch,  1 78.  And 
by  the  English,  ibid.  Repulse  the  efforts  of  Solyman  the 
Magnificent  to  drive  them  from  India,  192.  Their  inter- 
course with  Infidels  licensed  by  a  papal  bull,  340. 

Porus,  opposes  the  progress  of  Alexander  the  Great  in 
India,  16.  Remains  steady  to  the  Macedonian  interest, 
31. 

Potosi,  the  discovery  of  the  silver  mines  of,  the  first  perma- 
nent source  of  wealth  derived  by  Spain  from  America, 
185. 

Ptolemy,  the  geographer,  estimate  of  his  scientifical  know- 
ledge, 68.  Established  geography  upon  its  proper  princi- 
ples, 69.  His  accounts  of  the  continent  of  India  examined, 
71.  His  geography  of  India  adjusted  by  that  of  modern 
times  by  M.  D'Anville,  73.  Instances  of  his  exactness  in 
some  positions,  80.  His  account  of  the  island  of  Taprobane, 
83.  His  character,  by  Agathemerus,  321.  His  geogra- 
phical errors,  323.  From  what  materials  he  composed  his 
geography  of  India,  330. 

Ptolemy  l.agus,  establishes  the  seat  of  the  Egyptian  govern- 
ment at  Alexandria,  and  erects  the  light-house  on  the  Pha- 
ros, 38. 

Ptolemy  Philadel/ihus,  projects  a  grand  canal  to  facilitate  the 
intercourse  between  Egypt  and  India,  39.  Founds  the  ci 
ty  of  Berenice,  ibid. 

fultanah)  the  ancient  Plithania  of  Ajrjan,  32 1 . 


INDEX, 


R 

Ramusio-)  detects  the  geographical  errors  of  Ptolemy,  323. 

Raynal,  abbe,  character  of  his  history  of  the  East  and  West 
Indies,  189. 

Red  sea,  derivation  of  the  name,  and  the  different  applications 
of  it  by  the  ancients  and  the  moderns  300. 

Religion  and  superstition  discriminated,  260. 

Renaudot,  M.  his  translation  of  the  eastern  voyage  of  two  Ma- 
homedans,  from  the  Arabic,  vindicated  from  the  charge  of 
imposition,  331. 

Rcnnell)  major,  his  illustrations  of  the  Indian  expedition  of 
Alexander  the  Great,  20.  293.  302  His  account  of  the 
river  Ganges,  306.  Remarks  on  his  account  of  the  situa- 
tion of  the  city  of  Palibothra,  307.  His  opinion  of  the 
Egyptian  navigation  examined,  312. 

Rhinocolura,  the  ancient  port  of  communication  between 
Phenicia  and  India,  8. 

Roger,  M.  his  account  of  the  Indian  chronology,  379. 

Rome,  rise  of  the  power  of,  45.  How  supplied  with  Indian 
commodities,  47.  Its  imports  from  thence,  anicles  of  lux- 
ury 54,  Spices,  55.  Precious  stones,  57.  Silk,  59.  Re- 
mained ignorant  of  the  nature  or  production  oj  silk,  60. 
How  the  breeding  silk-worms  was  introduced  into  the  east- 
ern empire,  95.  Consequences  of  the  Roman  empire 
being  dissolved  by  the  Barbarians,  129.  How  the  itinera- 
ries of  the  empire  were  formed,  322. 

Russia,  a  commercial  intercourse  by  land  opened  between 
that  country  and  China,  353. 

Ryots  of  Indostan,  inquiry  into  the  tenure  by  which  they  hold 
their  possessions,  365. 


Sacontala,  an  ancient  Indian  dramatic  poem,  account  of, 
235. 

Sacotecas,  the  mines  of,  in  Mexico,  importance  of  the  disco- 
very of,  to  Spain,  i85. 

Saint  Croix,  baron  de,  observations  on  his  Critique  des  His- 
toriens  d' Alexander  le  Grand,  304. 

Samarcandj  by  what  name  known  to  Alexander  the  Great,  14. 
Its  latitude  as  ascertained  by  D'Anville,  80. 

Sandracottus,  an  Indian  prince,  his  revolt  against,  and  treaty 
with  Seleucus,  king  of  Syria,  32. 


INDEX. 

Sanskreet  literature,  a  new  acquisition,  374.     Mr.  Halhed's 

account  of,  375. 
Sanudo,  Marino,  his  account  of  the  Venetian  trade  with  India 

in  the  fourteenth  century,  128. 
Sciences  and  arts,  where  first  cultivated,  2.      A  view  of  the 

state  of,  in  India,  242. 
Scylax,  of  Caryandra,  his  naval  expedition  to  India,  11.  Gives 

fabulous  accounts  of  the  country,  12.     Why  his  voyage  is 

not  mentioned  by  Arrian,  297. 
Seajioys,  modern,  established  upon  the  same  principle  with 

the  phalanx  of  Persians  formed  by  Alexander  the  Great, 

27. 
Seiks  of  India,  probability  of  disputes  between  them  and  the 

British,  294.     Their  situation  and  character,  295. 
Seleucus,  the  successor  of  Alexander,  his  expedition  to  India, 

32.     Observation  on,  305. 
Selim,  sultan,  the  conqueror  of  the  Mameluks,  his  attention  to 

the  advantages  of  the  Indian  commerce,  190. 
Semiramis,  the  vast  fleet  that  opposed  her  invasion  of  India, 

297. 
Sere  Metropolis,  of  Ptolemy,  its  latitude  according  to  D'An- 

ville,  80. 

Seringham,  description  of  the  pagoda  there,  226. 
Sesostris,  king  of  Egypt,  the  first  who  rendered  the  Egyptians 

a  commercial  people,  6.  Improbabilities  attending  his  sup- 
posed expedition  to,  and  conquest  of  India,  289. 
Shaster,  some  account  of,  244.  377. 
Sielediba,  -account  given  of  this  island  by  Cosmas  Indicopleu- 

stes,  93. 
Silk,  its  high  estimation  among  the  Romans,  59.    The  trade 

for,  engrossed  by  the  Persians,  95.     Silk-worms  obtained 

and  cultivated  by  the  Greeks,  96.     Account  of  the  Vene- 
tian and  Florentine  trade  for  silk.  124.     Ignorance  of  the 

ancients,  as  to  its  production,  318.    Why  disliked  by  the 

Turks,  321. 
Silver  is  continually  drained  from  Europe  to   carry  on  the 

East-India  trade,  1 80.   Europe  enriched  by  this  exportation  3 

188. 
Since  Metropolis,  of  Ptolemy,  endeavours  of  M.  D'Anville  to 

ascertain  its  situation,  75. 
Slave  trade,  modern,  the  origin  of,  181.     Is  largely  carried 

on  by  the  African  caravans,  351. 
Solomon,  king  of  Judea,  inquiry  into  his  maritime  commerce, 

9.     Builds  Tadmor,  in  the  desert,  47. 
Solyman,  the  Magnificent,  his  efforts  to  drive  the  Portuguse 

from  India,  190. 


itfDEX. 

Soul,  description  of,  from  the  Mahabarat,  242. 

5/20/72,  how  that  country  happened  to  have  the  advantage 
and  honour  of  discovering  America,  144.  Gold  and  sil- 
ver the  only  profitable  articles  they  found  in  America,  185. 
Are  obliged  to  colonize  in  order  to  improve  their  disco- 
veries, 187. 

Sfiices  and  aro?natics,  why  much  used  by  the  ancients,  55.. 
Vast  modern  consumption  of  them,  175. 

Strabo,  his  obscure  knowledge  of  India,  66.  His  account  of 
the  island  of  Taprobane,  81.  Denies  that  Sesestris  ever 
entered  India,  29 1.  Evidence  of  his  slender  knowledge  of 
India,  312.  His  account  of  the  Caspian  sea,  314.  How 
he  justifies  his  neglect  of  Hipparchus,  321.  His  free  ex- 
position of  ancient  theology,  282.  His  account  of  the 
jealous  caution  with  which  the  Indian  women  were  guard- 
ed, 362.  His  account  of  the  ancient  dyes,  372. 

Sumatra,  the  island  of,  visited  by  the  early  Arabians,  10^. 
Was  the  Java  Minor  of  Marco  Polo,  343. 

Sufierstition  and  religion,  discriminated,  260.  Origin  of  su-* 
perstition,  262.  Progress  of,  266.  Picture  of  Oriental  su- 
perstition, 267.  Philosophy  fatal  to,  271. 

Surya  Siddhanta,  the  scientifical  merit  of  that  ancient  Orien- 
tal composition,  382. 

Sylla,  vast  quantities  of  spices  consumed  in  his  funeral  pile, 
56. 


T 

Tadmor,  in  the  desert,  by  whom  built,  and  for  what  purpose^ 
47.  Its  stupendous  ruins,  49.  Its  present  state,  5  1. 

Tamerlane,  his  judicious  choice  of  the  season  for  his  Indian 
campaign,  296. 

Tafirobane,  Strabo's  account  of  that  island,  81.  Pliny's  ac- 
count of  it,  82.  Ptolemy's  account  of  it,  83.  Appears  to 
be  the  island  of  Ceylon,  84.  Account  given  of  this  island 
by  Cosmas  Indicopleustes,  93. 

Tatta,  great  drought  there,  296.  Vast  numbers  of  vessels 
for  water-carriage  there,  296. 

Tea,  has  within  a  century  become  a  necessary  of  life  in  many 
parts  of  Europe,  356.  Amazing  annual  importation  of, 
ibid. 

Tea-tree,  first  mention  of,  by  Arabian  travellers,  103. 

Tides,  of  the  Indian  ocean,  peculiarities  in,  299. 

Trade,  how  at  first  conducted  between  different  countries,  3. 

3  o 


INDEX. 

Between  Egypt  and  India,  38.    Exports  and  Imports  of 

India,  54. 
Transmigration  of  souls ,  the  Eastern  doctrine  of,  explained, 

280. 

Turks,  their  scruples  concerning  the  wearing  of  silk,  321. 
Tyre,  the  best  account  of  the  commercial  transactions  of  that 

city,  to  be  found  in  the  prophet  Ezekiel,  292. 


Vasa  Murrhina,  of  Pliny,  inquiry  into  the  nature  and  compo- 
sition of,  335. 

Venice,  first  rise  of,  as  a  commercial  state,  108.  Constanti- 
nople taken,  in  conjunction  with  the  crusaders,  119.  The 
Venetians  engage  largely  in  the  trade  and  manufacture  of 
silk,  120.  The  Latin  empire  in  the  East  subverted,  121. 
The  Venetians  erapphtutea  in  the  trade  with  Constantinople 
by  the  Genoese,  124.  They  settle  a  trade  with  Alexandria^ 
125.  Account  of  the  Venetian  trade  with  India  in  the 
fourteenth  century,  128.  Travels  of  Marco  Polo,  132. 
Their  trade  extended  by  the  Turks  subduing  the  Greek 
empire,  134.  Remarks  on  their  trade  for  Indian  goods, 
136.  Evidences  of  the  great  wealth  they  acquired  by  this 
trade,  140.  Alarm  taken  at  the  direct  voyage  to  East 
India,  by  Vasco  de  Gama,  149.  Measures  prosecuted  by 
the  Venetians  to  check  the  progress  of  the  Portuguese  in 
the  East,  153.  The  Portuguese  supplant  them  in  the 
European  market,  by  reducing  the  prices  of  Indian  goods, 
172.  The  great  extent  of  their  trade,  346.  The  bank 
of  Venice  the  first  formed  of  any  in  Europe,  ibid. 
Amount  of  the  Venetian  naval  strength  in  the  fifteenth 
century,  347. 

Ulug  Beg,,  his  astronomical  tables,  80. 

Virgil,  a  good  natural  historian,  as  well  as  a  descriptive  poet, 
318. 

Volney,  M.  his  account  of  the  camel,  349.  And  of  the  caravan 
from  Damascus  to  Mecca,  350. 


W 

Wilford,  lieutenant,  his  examination  of  Arrian's  Pcriplus  by 
modern  names  and  situations,  321, 


INDEX. 

)  Mr.  account  of  his  translation  of  the  Heeto-pades, 

375. 
Women,  the  jealous  seclusion  of,  in  India,  whence  deriveds 

361. 
Wulttj  character  of  an  ode  translated  from,  377. 

Z 

Zemindars,  their  office  in  the  government  of  Indostan,  365, 


THE  END 


